A Different Path to the COG
by ReadingIsForNerds
Summary: This is a different take on COG. What would have happened if Valentine had taken Clary after she destroyed his boat. If he had taken her out of the water before her friends and family got to her. What would Valentine do if he was able to have Clary make him new runes and would she be able to escape? Eventual smut in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or the Mortal Instruments. Cassandra Clare does and that is why she is so awesome.**

-Clary.

I wake up slowly still choking on water and not fully able to open my eyes. I turn my head to the side and water comes choking out of my throat. "Jace? Jace?!" I croak out. Where is Jace? Is he okay. All I know is I have to find him. I try harder and force my eyes open and see nothing but darkness. My head is spinning and my throat feels like it has had sandpaper shoved down it. I reach down to my pocket to look for my stele, but realize I must have dropped it after I made that open rune on the boat. That is when I realize that I am in a bed. How did I get on a bed? "Jace!" I yell as loud as I can manage. I sit up and put my feet on the floor.

"Hello there." says a deep voice that sounds familiar. It is coming from the corner of the room. "For a while there I didn't think you were going to wake up."

It's Valentine. I stand up to run to the door but fall after one step. I am too weak after almost drowning and he apparently wasn't being very generous with iratzes.

"It's no use Clarissa. You can't leave. You are too important for me to just let you go." His voice is hard and laced with some other emotion. Anger? "What you did to my boat was nothing short of impressive. How long have you been able to do that with runes?" he asked.

"Screw you!" I shout back at him. "Let me go!"

He gives a small laugh with no humor. "I thought we already went over that."

"Where is Jace? I want to see him." I say angrily.

He leans forward and turns on a witchlight lamp and the room fills with harsh light. The room I am in has no window and there are two doors. One looks substantially stronger than the other. 'That's the door that leads out of here' I think to myself. I quickly survey the room to try and find some sort of weapon, but it looks like it has been stripped of everything except the bed a night stand and the chair Valentine is occupying in the corner of the room.

"Well I assume Jace is back at the Institute." he replies.

"He's not here?" I try to keep the panic out of my voice and fail miserably. I can't believe I am here alone. My heart drops through the floor.

"Thanks to you and what you did to my boat, I only had time to save one of you. I really thought you would be more greatful, Clarissa." His voice is smug.

"I didn't know you thought kidnapping me was saving me." I say with acid in my voice.

His eyes narrow as he looks at me. I can see him thinking back, like he is trying to remember something. "You really do look just like Jocelyn. Although the scowl on your face reminds me of me."

"I look nothing like you!" I shout at him. I know what I said was childish, but I don't want to think that I have anything of my father's. The way he looks at me after I shouted my outburst makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I can see the anger and hatred in his eyes building up.

"You will NOT speak to me like that again, Clarissa!" he yells at me. I see his fists clenching at his sides. For a moment, I think he is going to hit me and I cower back. "Your mother may have allowed you to speak like that to her, but you will learn not to speak to me like that. Is that understood?!" He is leaning over me looking like he is on the brink of losing it. All I can manage to do is nod.

He takes a deep breath and takes a step back. "Good. I am glad we could come to an understanding." he says with barely concealed rage. He walks over to the bigger door and knocks twice. It swings open and I can see someone standing outside the door in a white hallway. As he reaches the door, he turns around and jerks his head toward the other door in the room. "Through that door, you will find a bathroom. Clean up and be ready in 20 minutes. I have a schedule to keep and I don't need you slowing me down again." With that he walks out and shuts the heavy door behind him. I hang my head in my hands but refuse to cry. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't even know if everyone is alright. Simon. Isabelle. Luke. Magnus. Alec. Jace, Jace, Jace. I have to pull on my hair, hard, to keep from breaking down thinking about Jace. I have to stay strong for him. I can do this. I can find a way back to them.

I slowly stand back up, my legs wobbling hard and walk into the bathroom. I see some of my clothes from the apartment. He must have been the one to take everything after he took my mom. I walk over and grab them and bring them to my face. I take a deep breath in and am incredibly thankful that they still smell like home. That is when a tear escapes my eyes.

-Isabelle, New York Institute

Isabelle is watching Jace pace frantically back and forth in the middle of the library.

He runs his fingers angrily through his hair. "Tell them to check again!" he yells at Maryse. "Clary has to be there somewhere! I saw her come back up to the surface of the river before a piece of the boat fell in between us! And it's not like you have found her body. She has to be there. Maybe she swam down river. Did anyone think to check?"

"Jace." Maryse pleads with him in her most motherly voice. "We have looked everywhere for her and any other survivors. Everyone is accounted for, even the dead. She isn't anywhere to be found."

"Well then WHERE IS SHE!" he screams.

Alec walks over to Jace and places and hand on his shoulder. "Jace, don't yell at mom. She is doing everything in her power to find her. We all are. You know that." Alec pleads with him. Jace walks over to a couch and collapses onto it and places his head in his hands. When he speaks, his voice is low and defeated. "I know." is all he says.

I walk over to him and sit down next to him. He looks so lost. I know what we all are thinking, but no one will say it. That Valentine has Clary. I know Jace is thinking it, but he probably doesn't want to admit it to himself.

"Look, Jace." her mother says. "I, along with other members of the Conclave, believe that Valentine may have taken Clary with him. And as you know, all attempts to track him have been unsuccessful. But that doesn't mean we will give up the search for her."

I look back at Jace in time to see him lift his head and his eyes harden in suspicion. "Yeah, sure they will keep searching for her." he spits back at her. "After all, she is just an untrained shadowhunter who just so happens to be Valentine's daughter. We all know how the Clave feels about Valentine's children. The Inquisitor made that very clear."

"He does make a valid point, mom." I put in. "We can't exactly trust the Clave to believe what they say when it comes to Valentine's children. You saw how the Inquisitor was willing to _kill_ Jace in order to prove a point to Valentine."

Maryse places a hand on the back of her neck and walks over to sit in Hodge's old desk. She knows we are right about the Clave but just doesn't want to say it out loud. If they won't look for her, then we will. I mean, I kind of owe her. She took a pack of wolves to Renwick's and fought off Forsaken to save Jace. The least I can do is repay the favor.

Just as I am about to say so, Jace stands up and crosses the room to the desk. "What if I told you a reason why the Clave would want to find her." he says fervently. "Gave them a reason not to give up." His gaze is locked on Maryse and is intense.

"What are you talking about, Jace?" I say as I glance to Alec for an explanation. He looks back at me looking just as confused and shrugs his shoulders. Jace looks as if he doesn't really want to say whatever he is about to say.

Maryse is now leaning forward with both of her hands on the desk waiting for whatever grand idea Jace has now.

"I know why that boat fell apart the way it did." Jace says without breaking his intense eye contact with mom. "Clary is special."

"Yes. We all know what Clary means to you, Jace." Maryse says.

"No. You're not listening." he snaps back at her. "When we went to the Seelie court, the Seelie Queen told me and Clary that we were Valentine's little experiments. I didn't think anything of it then because I thought that she was just being a crazy bitch like she always is, but now, I think she might be right."

This snaps Alec to attention. He bolts upright and walks over to the desk to stand next to his parabatai. "He did jump 20 feet straight in the air to get out of that Malachai Configuration." Alec says with conviction. "And the Seelie Queen did say that."

"She also made that Fearless rune at Luke's." I add in. I glance over at Alec to see him turn three shades of red as he remembers just how we figured out the rune worked.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute." Maryse says as she holds up her hands in an attempt to figure out what is going on. "What on earth is everyone talking about? What Fearless rune? There is no Fearless rune."

Jace looks back at Maryse. "Now that Clary created one, there is." he replies watching as she furrows her brow in confusion. "Clary drew and Open rune onto the hull of the ship. Except it wasn't an ordinary Open rune. It was amplified to do what you saw it do with the boat. It tore it to pieces."

I watch as my mom's face unfreezes out of the shocked mask she was wearing and she grabs the phone off of the desk and dials a number. As the phone is ringing, she looks back at Jace and says,

"Are you sure of what you saw, Jace?" He nods in reply. "Then you, Alec and Isabelle need to tell this to the Clave."


	2. Chapter 2

-Clary

It feels good to be clean after the shower. Even if I do smell like sandalwood. What is it with guys liking sandalwood so much? I swear Magnus sleeps in tubs of that stuff. Anyway, I dress in my familiar clothes and pull my wet hair out of my face into a tight bun. I go back into the bedroom and take another look around to see if I have missed anything. After a quick look under the bed, my hopes are dashed. Nothing. My throat is still really sore and my head is pounding. I am in desperate need of a few iratzes, but I seriously doubt Valentine will be letting me have a stele anytime soon after what he saw me do on the boat. "Think Clary, think!" I say angrily to myself. Just then, someone knocks twice on the door and begins to turn the knob. The light from the hallway washes through the room making it hard to see who it is. It takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust and see the person in front of me.

He is beautiful. We lock eyes and I immediately get chills. His eyes are nearly completely black and are fixed on mine with a fierce intensity. I feel sudden recognition towards him and meet his gaze back just as intensely. Who is he and why do I feel like I know him? His hair is so blonde it is almost white and his skin is nearly as white with a porcelain complexion. We both then break the silence with a deep intake of breath. I guess we both had forgotten to breathe.

"Who are you?" I ask. He shakes his head then like he is trying to snap back to reality.

"It's time to go." he says. "Valentine wants to see you."

I nod my head and wait for him to lead the way. This gives me time to study him and survey my surroundings. At first there is nothing but a small hallway, so I study the guy leading the way. He is tall and very muscular, but he is lean in a way that Jace is not. He reminds me of someone, but I can't figure out who exactly. We come to the end of the hallway where I can see a foyer with a door on my left and a living room area straight ahead. We turn right into another room that appears to be an office. Behind the desk is Valentine. I look around and see that there are only the three of us within sight. If I wait for the right moment, maybe I can catch them off guard and make a run for the door in the foyer.

"Thank you, Jonathan." Valentine says as he leans comfortably back in his chair. "I was worried I would have to be kept waiting. And I don't like being kept waiting. Take a seat, Clarissa."

"I think I will stand." I reply.

He fixes me with an icy stare and says, "That was not a request." in an equally icy voice. I decide I don't want to anger him further after his outburst earlier, so I move to sit in one of the two chairs sitting across the desk from him. I can feel the other guy in the room, Jonathan I guess, moving to stand behind the chair.

"Now then," Valentine begins. "there is someone I would like you to meet. I hadn't planned on introducing you two until your mother finally awoke and decided to join us, but once again, you so rudely threw that plan out of the window." He leans forward and stands up and places one hand in his pocket while his other lifts and gestures towards the Jonathan that is behind me. "This is your brother, Clarissa."

I can feel the disbelief on my face. "What are you talking about? Jace is my brother. Jace is Jonathan."

The Jonathan that is behind me takes two steps and places himself in front of me. I look up at his face and suddenly the resemblance hits me. He looks exactly like Valentine. But his features are smoother and more angular. Less harsh than Valentine's. Maybe that's why he looked so familiar.

"Wait, wait. I am confused." I say stumbling over my words.

"This is your true brother. Although I raised Jace, he is not biologically mine. This is who your mother gave birth to."

I suddenly feel like I am falling. Too many shocks too quickly. I don't know what to think anymore. Is he lying? But when I look at this new Jonathan, I see the uncanny resemblance that was not there when I looked at Jace. Suddenly, I am furious. He lied to me. To Jace. Caused us so much heartbreak and played us like a drum.

"You lied to us. To me and Jace." I say, my voice getting louder with each word. "You knew how we felt about each other, and you lied to us anyway just so you could manipulate us. You bastard!

You really _are_ a monster!"

As soon as I get the last word out of my mouth, I can see that I have pushed Valentine too far. He bolts forward around the desk and takes huge pounding steps towards me. He closes the distance before I can even process what is about to happen. He reaches back and slings his left hand across the right side of my cheek knocking me out of the chair and onto the floor.

"I said that you will NOT speak to me like that, Clarissa! Have you already forgotten?!" his voice booms above me.

For a moment, all I can see are stars. Then, as my vision starts to clear, I can see Jonathan on his knees in front of me looking up at our father with pure rage in his eyes. When he looks at me, his eyes soften and he offers me his hand to help me get back up. I shove it away and stand up on my own, coming right below Valentine's chin.

Valentine rubs his hand like he was the one that was hurt and turns to walk towards the door. "Have her to be ready to leave in 5 minutes." he says to Jonathan. "We will be going to the apartment and I have too many things to be done that I will not allow to be delayed." With that, he turns and leaves me alone with Jonathan.

Jonathan looks over at me and I look back at him. So this is my real brother. Maybe that is why I instantly felt like I knew him. The look in his eyes says that he knows how I feel. "Father can be a very difficult man." he starts to say in a gentle voice. I assume he is trying not to scare me. "He doesn't take to disobedience too well. I have been privy to many slaps in the face from him over the years." I can't help but feel sorry for him. His childhood with Valentine must have been fraught with beatings. I immediately wonder how many nights he has laid awake in fear of him.

It's not his fault our father took him away from his mother before he even knew her. He reaches out his hand and places it over mine where I have it placed over where Valentine slapped me on the cheek. He gently pulls my hand away to survey the damage. He sucks in a sharp breath as he sees it.

"That looks like it hurts. Can I get you some ice for that?" he asks with concern in his voice.

"An iratze would be great right about now." I reply. Maybe I can somehow get his stele from him. Just as this thought comes across my mind, I see him purse his lips and shake his head.

"I learned a long time ago not to heal my punishments." Jonathan says sternly. "This one time, when I punched him for kicking me in the stomach, he had the servants come and chain me in the cellar. That was the first time he whipped me with demon metal. So that way, no iratze could heal it. See.." he says as he turns around and lifts his shirt to reveal his back. I have to stifle a small scream that started to build in my throat. His back is covered with so many angry and puckered red welts that I can barely see any untouched skin. An uncontrollable amount of pity swims over me. I can barely believe my eyes. I reach out my hand to touch his back. The moment my hand comes in contact with his skin, he sucks in a breath through his teeth and jerks away.

"Oh my gosh. I am so sorry. I didn't know it would hurt." I ramble apologetically.

He turns around as he is pulling his shirt down and smiles without humor. "It's okay, Clarissa. It always hurts. I just wasn't expecting you to touch it." His voice sounds so sad and defeated when he says that. A new wave of rage swims across my mind just then. How could he do that to his own son? I think back to Jace and how his back is completely unmarked except with the old faded scars from used Marks. What could have provoked this kind of response from Valentine for one child and not the other? Nothing. Nothing should ever provoke this kind of pure cruelty on his own child. I reach across the small distance and grab Jonathan's hand. "It's so nice to meet you. I thought that I already had met my brother, but I guess not." I say as I laugh a small laugh without humor. "And call me Clary. Everybody does. It makes me feel like I am in trouble when people call me Clarissa." I give him a small smile.

He looks into my eyes and squeezes my hand. His voice is intense when he says, "I have dreamed of the day that I would meet you since father told me about you not too long ago. I have been alone my whole life, and now I have you. A sister."

I start to feel my heart expanding for this new brother I have. He has never known what real love is with a father like Valentine. "Well here I am. And I will not leave you from now on. We are a team." The eye crinkling grin he gives back to me tells me all I need to know. He has looked for companionship his whole existence and never found it. Until now. I don't think I could ever leave him to be tortured by our father again. Just then he pulls me into a big bear hug, wrapping his arms around my waist. I reach up and place my arms around his neck and return the hug. The first real hug he has probably ever had.

He pulls away after a while and moves across the room to grab a big bag and swings it over his shoulder. "We had better get going. Father doesn't like to be kept waiting." he says in a serious voice.

"Where are we going?" I ask him.

"To the apartment." He says it like I should know what he is talking about. I let out an exasperated sigh. "I heard that part. Where exactly is the apartment?" I say with obvious irritation and curiosity. He turns around to face me and smiles a wicked sort of smile. "Everywhere." he replies.

-Maryse.

"Yes, I understand." I reply into the phone. "We will leave as soon as I have tied up all of the loose ends here in New York." I reach down to place the phone back on it's receiver. How did it come to all of this? Within the past few weeks, my children have been almost killed too many times to count. And it all started when Clary showed up. I can't help but harbor hard feelings toward her. Nothing good could have ever come from Valentine. I have to stop myself there because then I think of Jace. He is the best kind of person there is and he is Valentine's son. Maybe my influence had something to do with how well he turned out. Ugh. I have to help find Clary for his sake. I don't even want to try to figure out what is going on between them, but there is obviously something. I sigh and figure I had better tell everyone what the Clave has said.

"Isabelle, Alec, and Jace." I say loudly as they are across the library sitting by the fire. "I just finished my conversation with the Clave." Jace stands up reaches me before Isabelle and Alec had taken two steps. "And..." he asks me.

"They want us to come to Idris. To testify in front of the Council." I sit in my chair as an overwhelming wave of exhaustion hits me. "The silent brothers will look into your memories to see if what you are saying is true since Valentine had the Mortal Sword." Jace reaches up and runs his hand through his hair. I can't help but think he needs a haircut. "I figured that is what they would want." Jace says. "When do we leave?"

"Whoa, Jace. Slow down. I still have to clean up the mess here before we can go."

"Then I will go." Jace says as he starts to walk away.

"Hold your horses there, Jace." Isabelle says. "She has only been gone for like 12 hours. We all need to rest if we are going to be of any use to the silent brothers. Them digging through your head can be quite taxing."

"I know. I just can't help but think that she is out there just waiting for me to come. I don't want her to think that I have abandoned her." Jace says worriedly.

"There is no way she would ever think that, Jace." her daughter says with a mother-like voice. "Now lets all go get some rest. Okay?"

"Fine. But I want to be gone within 24 hours." he says with conviction. Alec looks at him with worry and says, "We will try, Jace. But only if you get some rest. You look like death warmed over."

Jace looks irritated but nods his head anyway in understanding and strides out of the room. I can tell it is going to be a long 24 hours.

-Jace.

I stride out of the library to escape everyone's pitiful looks they keep giving me. Why did I have to be so stupid. I should have held onto Clary tighter. I should have swam immediately to her when I saw her in the water. And now Valentine has her. I am sure of it. I saw the way he looked at her when she drew that rune. He would want her by his side so he could use her power. I should have killed him at Renwicks. None of this would have happened if I had just killed him then. It is all my fault. My anger boils up and I punch the wall. "And now my hand is hurting." I say to myself. I will not give up until I find my Clary. If it is the last thing I do, I will make sure she is safe and away from our father.

But then I remember what I have just told everyone. Now the Clave will want to use her for their purposes for what she can do. But I had to tell them. The more people looking for her, the more likely she will be found. First things first. Find her and get her away from Valentine. The rest we can figure out afterwards.

When I look up, I realize I am at the foot of the steps to the greenhouse where we had our first kiss. I take the steps two at a time and push open the doors. This is where I feel closest to Clary. The beautiful flowers remind me of her. So vibrant and full of life. I can still feel her in my arms from when we kissed for the first time. I thought I was going to fall to pieces, but there she was to hold me together. I sit on the ground where we had our picnic and lean back until I am laying down. I close my eyes and pretend she is here with me before I drift off into sleep.

-Simon.

"Luke. Who was that? Was that the Lightwood's mother?" I say as he hangs up the phone. I have come to his house after last night and my surprising turn of events. Apparently now I can walk in the sun. Just when I thought it was all over as the sun rose over the Hudson, something funny happened. I didn't burst into flames. I don't know why, but I hate to think it could be because I drank Jace's blood. The thought of being grateful to him for anything makes me sick to my stomach.

"Yes. That was Maryse." Luke replies. "She says that they are all going to go to Idris to tell the Clave about Clary's abilities."

"What about finding her?! Aren't they looking for her?!" I shout back at him. "Calm down, Simon." he says as he is making calming motions with his hands. "Maryse says they have looked all up and down the river and there is no sign of her. Everyone seems to think Valentine has taken her."

"VALENTINE HAS CLARY?!" I scream back at him. All I can picture is Valentine torturing Clary like he tortured me on the boat. "We have to find her, Luke! We have to go now!" I begin to pace frantically, wearing a path in his floor.

Luke falls back into the couch and throws his arm over his face and mumbles a response. "Jace told the Clave about her abilities so that the Clave would have no choice but to launch a full scale search for her. With what she can do, I am sure the Clave doesn't want Valentine to have her any more than we do."

"Yes, but why aren't WE out looking for her?"

"Because, Simon. If they have the whole Clave looking for her and they still can't find her, then we won't be able to."

I am getting angry at this point because of his lack of action. "What about Magnus?" I offer. "I bet he has ways of finding people that Shadowhunters don't."

"He is already there and helping them every way he can. Whenever I recover from last night, I am going to send my pack out searching for her in every downworlder spot that the Clave doesn't even have a clue about. We _will_ find her, Simon."

I am too frustrated to be in the same room with him. I turn and walk out the front door. I can hear Luke call my name from the other side of the door, but I don't even slow down. I have to get to the Institute. There must be something I can do to help.


	3. Chapter 3

-Clary.

I wake up in a new room. The walls are white and the bed I am in is sleek and black. I look across the room and see that there is a black leather chair in one corner, and once again, no window. There were also two doors like the other room I woke up in. I hopped down off the bed and opened one of the doors and saw a very modern bathroom. Something you would find in a fancy hotel. I then went to the other door hoping it would be unlocked. Thankfully it was. I walked out and found myself in what must have been the common area. Once again, everything was very modern down to the chrome accented fireplace to the giant stainless steel refrigerator in the kitchen. I don't see anybody either. Where were the people that were supposed to be guarding me? Aren't they afraid I would just walk out the front door? I walk out into the area looking for a door, any door, and come up with nothing. There is a glass staircase across the room. Maybe the door to the outside is up there. I start to walk towards the stairs when I hear footsteps coming down. I try to turn and slip back into the bedroom without being noticed with no such luck.

"Clary! You're awake!" It's Jonathan. He is wearing a white shirt with the top few buttons undone showing off his muscular chest and a Sure-Footedness rune. "I thought I heard you down here."

"You caught me." I say glad to see that it is Jonathan and not Valentine. "Where is Valentine?"

"Father is at some important meeting. He should be back late. They usually take a while."

I want to ask him where the door is or if he can get me out of here somehow. But then I think back to when he showed me his back and I can't imagine what Valentine would do to him if he came back to find me gone under Jonathan's watch. I think about asking him to come with me, but something about him makes me think he won't think that is a very good idea. I don't think he has ever dreamed of crossing our father for fear of his retaliation.

"Are we the only ones here?" I ask him. "Yep." he replies popping the p sound on the end. Something about the way he answered makes me smile. He sees my smile and matches it with one of his own.

"Do you want me to give you a tour of the apartment?" he asks me. 'Bingo!' I think to myself. "Yeah, that would be great." I say as he offers me his arm. I take it and we start to walk further into the house. "This is obviously the kitchen," he gestures towards the sleek kitchen, "and this is the living room. There is a T.V., as you can see, but we don't have cable. We do have an insane collection of movies though."

We turn and head towards the stairs and start to climb them. He reaches across his body and places his hand on top of my hand where it is draped over his arm. His touch is warm. I swear his body temperature is running hot. I turn my head up at him and give him a warm smile. I am so glad not to be in love with _this_ brother. Maybe we can have a normal and uncomplicated sibling relationship. That would be a nice change of pace for me. Not thinking there is something wrong with me for lusting after my brother every time he comes in the room. His eyes soften as he sees my smile as he gestures toward the first room.

"This is father's room. He has been preparing for when our mother returns. The whole wardrobe is filled with clothes for her." I want to say that there is no way in hell my mom will be moving back in with Valentine, but now may not be the best time for that particular conversation. "And this room will be for Jace. There isn't much to it since he isn't here to decorate it how he likes." Wow. Valentine really thinks we will be just one big happy family, doesn't he, I think to myself. "And the last room is my room." We stop in front of his door and I see that the room is a hot mess. The sheets are crumpled at the foot of the bed and there are clothes and papers scattered all over the floor. He looks down at me embarrassed and pulls away. He steps into his room and starts to clean up the mess.

"Sorry about the mess." he says as he turns back to look at me with a sheepish look on his face. "I wasn't expecting to come back with anyone the last time we left here."

"Don't worry about it. It's no biggie. You should have seen my room back in Brooklyn. I had drawings and art supplies everywhere." I reply trying to make him feel better. Since I still haven't seen a door out of this place, I figure I should ask him. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? "Where is the door out of this place. We have walked the whole place and I haven't see a door to the outside." Before I can even finish the last half of the sentence, he is vigorously shaking his head no.

"Father specifically instructed me to not tell you how to get in and out. He had a warlock make this place for him so there is no way to track it and no way to get in or out without being told how. Then, of course, he killed the warlock so he couldn't tell anyone about this place."

Well, crap. By the look on his face as he tells me this, I don't think I am going to convince Jonathan anytime soon to show me how to get in and out of here. So that is why he left me here with just Jonathan. There is no escape unless he wants it. Jonathan is coming back out of his room and as he closes the door, my stomach gives an embarrassingly loud growl.

"I think someone is hungry." he says as he pokes me in the belly. "Come on Clary, lets get something to eat downstairs."

"That sounds like a plan to me." I reply. "It has been what, two days since I had a solid meal?" I figure since I am apparently going nowhere in a hurry, I should just bide my time and get to know my brother better in the meantime. I mean, they have to let me out of here at some point and that is when I will convince him to leave Valentine behind.

"How about some eggs?" Jonathan asks me.

"Blech. I don't particularly like eggs." I say with a gross look on my face. For some reason, Jonathan finds it hilarious and lets out a huge laugh.

"Me either, Clary. I never really liked eggs either." I can't help but smile and laugh. We already have something in common. I think we are going to get along just fine.

-Simon.

Well I didn't think this through too well. I can't exactly go inside the Institute so I do what is second best. I ring the big bell hoping someone will come down and tell me what I can do. It takes a few minutes before I hear the elevator doors open and close from inside the chapel. I then hear heels clacking against the stone floor. Unless Jace or Alec has taken to cross dressing, I am going to guess it is going to be either Isabelle or Maryse. "Please be Isabelle, please be Isabelle" I whisper to myself. Maryse kind of scares the heck out of me. The doors swing open to reveal Isabelle looking tired and stressed out.

"Oh hey Simon. I see you can still walk around in the daylight." she says pointing up towards the sun.

"Yes, but that is not why I am here. I want to help look for Clary. Tell me what I can do."

"Simon" Isabelle says sighing heavily, "There is nothing you can do right now. We have already been over this with Jace a hundred times. The only thing we can do right now is try to recuperate after the battle on the boat. My mom is still tying to piece everything together. The sooner we get done with that, the sooner we can go to Idris and convince the Council to launch a full scale search for Clary. I mean, everyone is already looking for Valentine, but maybe because we believe Clary is with them, there will be a new way to try to track them." She looks as if the speech of hers had taken a lot out of her and she leans against the Institute doors heavily.

"Between the two of you, I don't think Valentine stands a chance at hiding Clary." she says tiredly. For some unknown reason to myself, I want to wrap my arms around her and tell her everything will be alright. "The two boys who are in love with her will stop at nothing till she is back."

"Well, actually, I was thinking of breaking up with Clary." Why did I just say that?! Oh yeah, Clary is still lusting after her brother. The fact that she would rather be with her brother than with me doesn't give me much hope for the future. And plus, I am starting to feel differently. I look at her and I don't see the woman I am in love with anymore. Of course I love Clary, but I don't think I love her the way I used to anymore. My declaration seems to have brought Isabelle up short. Her mouth is hanging open and she has this astonished look on her face.

"Really?" she says a little too loudly. "I thought you would eventually guilt her into marrying you, Simon."

"Gee. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Izzy." I say acidly back. " I just don't think I feel the same way anymore. I love her, but I don't think I am _in love_ with her." As I say it out loud, something rings true in the words.

"Well" says Isabelle as she stands up straight. "I will call you if anything changes. But for now, go home and take a shower. You still smell like the Hudson River. Eewww."

I look down to see that she is right. I am still wearing the same clothes from when Valentine kidnapped me almost two days ago. "I guess you're right, Izzy. But you have to swear that if you can think of anything for me to do or if you hear any news, you will call me immediately."

"Cross my heart and hope to die." she says as she makes a criss crossing motion across her chest.

"I didn't know shadowhunters knew that saying." I say unable to keep the shock out of my voice.

"I am not a complete idiot, Simon. Hanging out with you and Clary has seemed to broaden my horizon a bit more about stupid mundane things, though. I mean, when you never shut up about all those stupid movies and those picture book things, I have no choice but to soak up _some_ information."

"Comics. Those picture book things are called comics." I clarify for her. I can't help but notice how cute her expression is when she talks about that stuff. Like she is proud of herself.

"Whatever, Simon. Go home before someone thinks you are homeless and tries to take you on as a charity case." And with that she turns and shuts the door.

-Clary.

After we have gotten done eating some left over Italian take out, Jonathan and I go to sit on the couch and try to get to know one another a little better. Apparently he doesn't have an artistic bone in his body and, like Jace, mostly talks about weapons and cool ways he has killed demons.

"I once used a spoon to kill a drevak demon." Jonathan say animatedly. "He had knocked my seraph blade out of my hand while my other hand was holding off a raum demon. I searched frantically around for anything I could use as a weapon as father had taught me, but the only thing that was in reach was a spoon. I grabbed the wide end and shoved the handle into the drevak demon's forehead." As he is telling me this story, I can see him reliving it through his memories. His face comes alive when he is talking about the high of killing demons the same way Jace's does. Thinking about Jace makes me come up short and wipes the smile off of my face. Jonathan notices this and abruptly stops mid-sentence.

"What is it Clary? Was that too vivid? I know you haven't had much experience fighting demons." he says scrunching his eyebrows together.

"No, it's not that." I say. "Watching you talk about killing demons makes me think of Jace. You two seem a lot alike. It makes me miss him."

"Really?" Jonathan says surprised. "The way father talks about him made me think we were polar opposites."

"Not at all." I say quickly. "I actually think you two would get along famously."

He seems to take this into consideration. His face scrunches together in concentration as I assume he is trying to reconcile what I have just said with whatever Valentine has told him. Just as I am about to ask him what exactly Valentine has told him about Jace, I turn around and notice Valentine standing in the kitchen wearing some torn gear and notice his hair is disheveled. And then I see what I think is a door fading away into the wall. Dang, he was quiet.

A sly smile spreads over his face as he sees us sitting on the couch together. Before I can even think about what I am doing, I bolt up and make a run for the disappearing door. I don't even get three steps towards the kitchen before Jonathan is in front of me wrapping his arms around me. I am not surprised that he is the one restraining me but I can't help but feel a little betrayed.

"You and Jonathan looked like you were enjoying yourselves, Clarissa." Valentine says with a smirk on his face. "I am surprised you would want to leave so soon."

"Well since you are holding me against my will, I am surprised you would think that I _wouldn't_ try and escape." I say back at him. I look up at Jonathan who is now holding me by my arms.

"Please, Clary." Jonathan pleads. "We just started getting to know each other. I didn't think you were having such a bad time here with me." He has this sad puppy dog look on his face that reminds me that I can't just leave him here. I told him we were a team, and I meant it.

"I'm not, Jonathan. I am enjoying getting to know you." My voice is laced with feeling as I tell him that. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see that something about what I have said causes a slow and wicked smile spread across Valentine's face.

"Now then. I am going to go to bed now." Valentine drawls out. "I would appreciate it if you would try and not kill me in my sleep, Clarissa. I wouldn't want to have to put you in chains. Can I trust you to behave?" I glare daggers back at him and give a small nod as he turns and climbs the stairs. I am suddenly angry with Jonathan. As soon as I hear Valentine close his door, I turn on him.

"Why do you put up with him?!" I say angrily at him.

Jonathan looks down at me with a questioning look on his face like he is surprised by my sudden outburst. "Because he is my father. He is the only family I have ever had." he says slowly back at me. "He is not always like this. He is stressed out and has become more short tempered lately."

"You mean he isn't always this charming?" I reply, my voice full of sarcasm. This seems to ease the tension in the room and he gives a small laugh.

"We should both probably get some sleep. It is getting kind of late." Jonathan says as he turns back to the living room.

"Speaking of getting late, where are we exactly?" I realize I haven't bothered to ask him yet. "Um, I think we are in Paris today. Tomorrow we are leaving and going somewhere else though." he answers. "Paris!" I shriek out. "I have always wanted to go to Paris." Ugh. Of course the first time I would leave the country would be because my psycho father has kidnapped me. "Well when all of this is over, we can come back and I can show you the city." he offers back. "Deal." I say as I offer him my hand in a handshake. He takes it and smiles widely at me.

"So, we will be leaving the apartment tomorrow? You said we would be going somewhere else tomorrow, right?" I ask as I start to walk to my room. He shakes his head as he starts to respond. "No, no. You don't understand. The apartment moves to where ever you want it to." I can't help but think how cool that is. He comes back across the living area and opens my bedroom door for me.

"Well, okay. I guess I will turn in now. Goodnight Jonathan." I reach up on the tip of my toes and give him a small peck on the cheek while steadying myself by placing my hand on his shoulder. He returns the favor by bending down and kissing me on my forehead. "Goodnight, Clary." He turns and is gone by the time I shut the door. I cross the room and collapse onto the bed. As I close my eyes, I realize just how tired I am. It must have been two or three days since I have had more than a cat nap here and there. I get up and go lock the door before I can get too comfortable even though it is probably useless. He could get in if he wanted to. I walk into the bathroom to check out my face and see that where Valentine has hit me is turning a wicked shade of purple. "That bastard." I mutter to myself. I turn off the light and drag myself back

into the room and climb into bed. Hopefully I can quiet my mind long enough to get some sleep. I close my eyes and tell myself that I am back at home in bed with Jace while Simon is at home in bed sleeping safe and sound. Ignorance is bliss, right?

-Jace.

"This is getting ridiculous, Alec. It has be THREE DAYS since she went missing and we still aren't in Allicante." I say as we are cleaning our weapons in the weapons room.

"Mom said she will be ready to go tomorrow." Alec replies in a calming voice. "She has already called Magnus and scheduled for him to make a portal for us in the morning."

"I know, Alec. But why wait till the morning when we could go tonight." I ask him. "What else is there left to do here?"

"You know how the Clave is, Jace. They like to schedule everything down to the last second." I know I am being difficult, but I don't care. Clary is still out there having heavens knows what done to her. Unfortunately, she is my little sister and it is my brotherly duty to protect her. And once again, I am failing. I stand up angrily and throw down the kindjal I was cleaning. I have to get out of here. I need the clarity of the training room. I need the mind numbing that comes from hitting, kicking, and stabbing. After about 3 hours of my kind of therapy, I make my way back to my room to take a shower. When I am done, I hear the shrill sound of my phone ringing.

"I swear if that is Simon, I will go to his house and strangle him." I mutter to myself. I pick my phone up and see that is says "Dumb Mundane" on the caller i.d. and curse Isabelle for giving him my number. "What is it _now_ Simon?" When I say that, I put as much acid into my voice as I can possibly muster.

"Look, pretty boy" Simon starts to say "I don't like calling you as much as you think I do. Isabelle hasn't answered in the last couple of hours and I am just checking to see if anything new has come up."

"Nothing has come up, mundane." I reply. "I can't wait till we go to Idris tomorrow where my phone won't work just so I can escape hearing your drab voice every time my cell rings."

"You're leaving tomorrow?" he practically yells into the phone. "I need to go too, Jace. I am going to go. I know Clary better than anyone and if they want to find her, I can help because I know how she thinks."

"There is no way in hell the Clave will let you go into Allicante." I tell him. "You are a vampire and downworlders aren't allowed in the city. Isabelle has already told you she will tell you if there is anything you can do to help; which there isn't. So if you will excuse me, I have to pack." and I hang up the phone. Why does he have to stick his nose in everywhere? He already took advantage of Clary after she found out we were siblings. He saw that she was vulnerable and hurt and used that to his advantage to get her to go out with him. At least that is what I tell myself because the alternative that she actually does love him is too much to handle. Thinking about this makes me angry and before I know it, I am off to the training room again.


	4. Chapter 4

-Simon.

As I am walking to Luke's, I can't help but think about my revelation about Clary. I had always been so consumed with my desire to be with her that I never stopped to think if I ever was with her, would she be happy? I knew she never saw me as anything other than a friend, but that didn't stop me from trying to force a relationship with her that I always, deep down, knew was doomed. It was always the idea of being with her that I was in love with. Someone that was safe and that I trusted.

I finally reach the steps to Luke's and knock on the door. I know it's early in the morning, but he was always an early riser. He opens the door and he looks like he has slept about as much as I have, which isn't much. The smell of coffee is coming from the kitchen but all I can smell is his blood. It has been almost a day and a half since I have eaten and it is starting to bother me.

"Hey Simon, come on in." Luke says as he turns and heads back towards the kitchen.

"Have you heard anything about Clary, yet?" I say. But before I can get through with my sentence, his phone rings loudly. "Hold on a sec, Simon." he says as he answers the phone. I move across his living room and sit down on the couch.

"Hold on." Luke says into the phone. "Slow down. What did you say?" There is a pause and I see his expression change. "Paris? Is that correct?" By the look on his face I can tell that this phone call is out of the norm. "Okay, I will. Thanks, Jared." he says and hangs up the phone. He immediately starts to dial another number.

"Come on, Maryse. Pick up the phone." Luke says in a low voice.

"Wait. Why are you calling Maryse? Did you hear something about Clary?" I ask raising from the couch.

"I told you" Luke begins, "that I would have my pack out looking and listening for any information about Valentine. Well one of them has a contact in Europe and they called to say that Valentine was spotted in Paris yesterday." He swears and hangs up the phone and dials the number again. "Apparently he had a meeting with some shadowhunters and then they went hunting. For wearwolves. Only a few of them escaped."

This is it! This is the break we are looking for. "Why isn't she picking up the phone?!" he screams. I have rarely seen him so panicked.

"Jace said yesterday that they were going to Idris this morning." I offer. "I will try to call Isabelle." I dial her number quickly and after a few rings, I get her automated message. "Dammit. She isn't picking up. I will try Jace." His phone rings and rings and then goes to voice mail. "Dammit!" I shout at my phone.

Luke walks across the room and grabs his jacket and keys and starts to head to the door. I quickly match his pace and we are out on the lawn making our way to his truck. "Where are we going?"

He hops in the truck and jams the key into the ignition before he replies, "The Institute. If they are leaving this morning for Allicante, then they wouldn't be bringing their phones. We have to hurry and try to catch them before they leave. Once they get there, it will be nearly impossible to get a hold of them."

"Alright. Let's go." is all I manage to get out before we are tearing down the highway.

-Jace.

I double check to make sure I have everything I need before I head downstairs. When I am positive I haven't forgotten anything, I walk out in the garden where Magnus is waiting. He is wearing something that reminds me of the costumes "performers" wear in Times Square. I am pretty sure you could see him from outer space. "Hey Magnus, what's the big hold up?" I ask him. "Why don't you have the portal going yet?"

"Because you are the only one here." he says and waves his hands around to prove his point. Just then, Alec comes around the corner. When he spots me, his face turns into a mask of surprise.

"I didn't think you would be down here so early, Jace." Alec says as he self consciously adjusts his gear. "It's like 30 minutes early."

"Well I didn't know I would be intruding on something." I say as I hold both of my hands up and slowly start to back away.

"You're not." Magnus says sternly looking in Alec's direction. I can see my parabatai's face fall when he says that. I guess I have been too wrapped up in finding Clary that I have obviously missed something big between them. 'Way to go, Jace. Sucking it up again' I think to myself.

We all turn our heads as we hear heels tapping against the pavement. I know who it is before she comes around the corner. Isabelle rounds the side of the building and tosses Alec her bag when she picks up on the atmosphere around us. She stops quickly and looks to each of us slowly.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asks.

"That's what I just said." I say.

"And once again, no. Nobody has interrupted anything." Magnus replies exasperated.

Isabelle raises her eyebrows and says "O-kay then. I guess we are just waiting on Mom." We all then lapse into a very awkward silence that no one seems to want to break. Five minutes, ten minutes, then fifteen minutes go by without a word from anyone. Right when I am about to make one of my hilarious observations about Magnus' outfit, I hear tires screech out in front of the Institute. Alec and I start walking down the garden path to the front when Luke and Simon come barreling into the garden. They both look panicked.

"What is going on?" Alec says from behind me.

"Where's Maryse?" Luke asks him. "She should be coming down any second now." Alec offers back. As soon as Alec finishes his statement, Maryse appears at the top of the Institute's stairs.

"Maryse, I have news." Luke says with relief in his voice. "I was worried we wouldn't make it in time to catch you before you left. I got a call from a member of my pack saying that his friend in Paris was attacked by Valentine and other members of the Circle yesterday."

This news is like a shot of adrenaline in my veins. "Paris?" I manage to say through the pounding in my ears. Before anyone can answer, Isabelle comes around the bend saying Magnus has the portal up and ready to go. That's when all hell breaks lose. The gates on the other side of our group come flying inward to us and about 15 Forsaken are marching their way towards us followed by some sort of mist that I can't really see through. We all pull out our blades, but there is no way we can escape unscathed if we try and fight them off.

Maryse jumps into action shoving us behind her. "Get to the portal. Now!" she shouts at us just as the first one reaches us. Maryse swings her blade low and I go high shoving my seraph blade into his head while Maryse cuts his feet out from under him. We both turn and start to run towards the portal when I see Simon standing there with his mouth hanging open in a mask of shock. 'Stupid mundane' I think to myself as I grab his arm and drag him with me. We round the corner and I hear Magnus yelling something at us while Isabelle slips through the portal. Alec yells something at Magnus that I can't make out over the groans of the Forsaken. Magnus replies saying, "I will be fine. Now GO!" and Alec is gone through the portal. I reach it then and shove Simon through before me and Maryse shoves Luke through as the swirling of the portal rips my hand off of Simon's arm.

-Clary.

Tapping. Why do I hear tapping? "Clary. It's Jonathan. It's time to get up." My eyes snap open as I remember where I am. For just a second, I had blissfully forgotten where I was and I groan out a muffled response that sounds something like "Go away." I hear soft laughter come from the other side of the door.

"Open the door, Clary. I have some news." This perks me up and I jump up to swing the door open. Jonathan is leaning against the door frame shirtless with his pajama pants riding low on his hips exposing the muscled "V" shape at the bottom of his stomach. Something about the way he is standing puts me off. I don't know what it is exactly, but...

"Father said I could help train you today." he says with a smile on his face.

"Train me?" My voice is filled with the surprise that is in my head. "Yep." he replies. "He says since you have had a mundane upbringing, you are severely behind and need to be caught up. He wanted to do all the training himself, but I convinced him to let me help."

"Really? Why is he letting me near weapons? Isn't he afraid I will try and fight you or him off and leave again?"

"He says you couldn't kill a fly with an electric fly swatter; so no. He doesn't see you as much of a threat." As Jonathan tells me this, he has the courtesy to look sheepish.

This makes me think of something Simon is always saying. "Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, dear old Dad."

"Anytime, Clarissa." I stick my head out of the door to see Valentine standing a few feet away. Dang it! Maybe he is right because I didn't even notice him standing there.

"You need to get used to rising early and not being so lazy. Jonathan will help you train this morning while I take care of some business." With that, Valentine turns and walks towards the kitchen.

Jonathan looks back at me and tells me to put the clothes on that he pulls out from behind his back and to meet him in the kitchen for breakfast in 10 minutes. I turn and step back into the room and shut the door. "Training." I say to myself. Up to this point, my very very minimal training has been left up to Jace and occasionally Alec (which he hated doing). Those few training sessions with Jace were like torture. Having his hands on me and falling on top of me, pinning me to the ground over and over was the most sexually frustrating experience of my life. I can't wait to tell him we aren't brother and sister. I start to think about what those training sessions will be like from now on with him and a shudder runs through my body. IF I ever get out of here, I remind myself.

I quickly pull on the clothes and braid my hair to keep it out of my face while we train. I go to the kitchen where we eat a bowl of cereal and then make our way upstairs. "I didn't see a training room when you were showing me the place yesterday."

"That's because it is in father's room." he answers me. My hopes that we would be going outside to train are quickly dashed. "Where are we today?" I ask him.

"Umm. India, I think." As we reach Valentine's room, I glance out his window and all I see is the side of another building. Jonathan walks over to the wardrobe and pulls it out to reveal a staircase leading downwards. "The training room is down here." he says and gestures for me to go first.

After what seems like 5 million hours, Jonathan finally says it is time for lunch. We are both covered in sweat from head to toe. I excuse myself to go take a shower and he says he should probably do the same. As I am standing in the water, letting it melt away the knots in my body, I think back to this one paricular moment during our training. I had never seen someone move so fast in my life. Not even Jace. Jonathan had knocked me to the ground for the hundreth time and fell on top of me in between my legs, pinning my arms above my head. The way he looked at me then was a little unnerving. And he seemed to linger a little too long on top of me. I tell myself I am being ridiculous and finish my shower.

I get dressed and leave my room and head into the kitchen and stop dead in my tracks. Valentine is back and he looks wrecked. His gear is torn and bloody and there is a pink mark across his face where a cut is healing from the iratze on his neck. Jonathan appears at the bottom of the stairs just then and makes a low whistling sound. "It looks like your meeting didn't go as planned, Father." he remarks.

"Not exactly." Valentine replies. "The damned vampire clan head just wouldn't die. We were clearing out of nest of them when we realized that the intel that we got on just how many of them there were wasn't really that accurate. We lost a few good shadowhunters today."

Good, I think to myself. Any shadowhunter that fights alongside you desereves to die. He glances at me, then turns to Jonathan. "How did her training go today?"

"It went well, Father. She is a quick learner." Jonathan tells him with a small smile playing at the corners of his lips.

"Glad to here it." he says back, although his tone says otherwise. "I am going to clean up. Clarissa?" Valentine turns and looks at me. "I want to speak with you after lunch. There are a few questions I have for you."

I don't trust myself not to say something sarcastic, so I just nod my head in understanding. I allow myself to relax when I hear his door shut behind him.

"Great. Now I won't be able to eat. All I can think about now is that I will have to be in the same room with Valentine while I am forced to act like the site of him doesn't make me want to kill myself." I say acidly.

"I can go with you." Jonathan offers. "But only if you want me to."

"Yes, please. That would be great." I reply. Having a buffer there couldn't hurt.

We make sandwiches for ourselves and talk about random things. I am trying to explain what Naruto is and his is scrunching his face up in a way that reminds me of mom. It is strange to see her features and expressions on someone else's face. It makes me miss her so much.

As we are putting our dishes away, Valentine appears in the living room holding a pencil and a what looks like a pad of paper. He motions for me to come and sit across from him and my stomach turns flips. Suddenly, Jonathan scoots close to me and grabs my hand giving me the strength to approach him. We walk hand in hand until we sit down on the couch opposite of our father.

"Awww. How sweet." Valentine drawls out. He leans forward and hands me the pencil and pad of paper. "A little birdie in the Clave told me you can create new runes. He said you created a Fearless rune and placed it on Jace before he got on the ship. Is that how he was able to defeat Agramon?"

I am too shocked to form a response. How did he find out about that? The only people who knew I did that were Alec, Magnus, Jace, and Luke. And I can't imagine them telling anyone.

"I will take your shocked face as a yes." Valentine says with a smirk on his face. What I wouldn't give to slap that smirk right off his face...

"Do you know why you can do this?" he asks me. "No." is my only response. "Well I do." he states matter of factly. "But we don't have to get into that now. I want you to make me a new rune, Clarissa. I couldn't help but think this morning while we were being ambushed by all that downworld slime that a portal would be a great thing to have right then."

"A portal?" I choke out, my voice going up two octaves. "I don't think I can do that. I thought only warlocks could open portals."

Valentine leans forward resting his elbows on top of his knees. "Yes, and that is why I have come to you. So we can remedy that problem."

"It doesn't work like that." I say almost tripping over my words. "I can't just draw some lines on a piece of paper and call it a rune. It has to come to me. And...and nothing like that has ever come to me."

"Well you obviously did it once and you can do it again." I can hear him growing impatient and angry when he says this.

"No, I can't!" I shout back at him. Everything that happens after that happens really quickly. Valentine stands up and reaches back like he is going to hit me again but Jonathan moves quick enough to grab his hand mid-air and stop him from connecting with my face. Pure fury then races across our father's face and he reaches down and grabs a knife that has a knuckle guard on it. Valentine snaps his fist back and brings it forward, using the knuckle guard like brass knuckles, and punches Jonathan squarely in the jaw once, twice. I see him pull his arm back to punch him again and I jump up.

"Okay, okay! I will do it!" I scream at the top of my lungs. I would do anything to stop the vicious beating that I know Jonathan will get if I don't step in.

Valentine releases Jonathan and lowers his hand. "I thought you would see it my way." he says smugly. I reach over and place my hand on Jonathan's arm. "Are you okay?" I say in a low whisper. He turns and gives me a weak smile and nods his head. I turn and look back at our father and he is wiping his son's blood off of his knife. 'I will kill this man. I will kill this man' I chant to myself in my head. But later. Right now I have to focus. I grab the pencil and let it rest on the pad of paper. I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths. 'Portal...portal...portal' I recite.

Suddenly I start to see flickers of lines and my hand starts to move of it's own accord. When I open my eyes and look down at the paper, I know I have done it. When I look at this new rune, it says "portal" to me. I raise my head up from the paper to see both Valentine and Jonathan openly staring at me with the strangest expressions on their faces. Valentine looks like he is surprised with a mixture of smug pride? And Jonathan is looking at me with such intensity and fascination that I have to look away.

Valentine looks at Jonathan then and says "I told you she would be useful." and stands up and leaves the room.


	5. Chapter 5

-Simon.

Well, I did say that I wanted to go with them to Allicante. But now I am not so sure. When we landed on the other side of the portal, the shadowhunters that had been waiting for us didn't seem too happy to see me or Luke. They immediately drew their swords and seraph blades and had us pinned down before I could get my bearings. Jace jumped into action and knocked the guy's blade who was glaring at me out of his had and moved to stand in front of me. Why is he always acting like he has to save me all the time? God, I can't stand him. Maryse then jumped in quickly and explained what had happened and why they were forced to bring us. They looked angry but seemed to back off when she was done. And now we are all at some rich shadowhunters' house and I am shut up in some bedroom like the ugly step-sister that everyone is embarrassed of.

I walk to the window and move the curtains back for the tenth time and look out to an undeniably beautiful city. There are canals and old homes that look like you would find them in small towns throughout Europe. I turn when I hear a quick rap on the door and say "Come in." It's Isabelle still looking like a bad-ass even though we have been attacked and jumped through a portal. She moves across the room and I back away from her. All I can smell is her blood, and to say that I am hungry is an understatement. Isabelle notices and looks hurt that I have shied away from her.

"What is wrong with you?" she asks me. "Do I smell bad...oh. You're hungry." Realization chases away the hurt look off of her face. I nod back at her. "Well, I will see what I can do." Isabelle says and she turns and leaves the room.

I am tired of being couped up in this room but the alternative is going down stairs and hanging out with Jace. So I think I will stay right where I am. I certainly don't want to lose control and drink his blood again. Isabelle returns about an hour later with a bottle of blood from the butchers. It is definitely not the best I have ever had, but I instantly feel better when I am done. Isabelle has been standing there the whole time watching me. When I set the bottle down, she crosses the room and grabs me by the wrist.

"Quit hiding up here like Quasimodo." Isabelle says playfully. "Come hang out with us downstairs. All of the adults are at some meeting down at the Guard and Jace and Alec are about to leave to let the silent brothers dig in their heads. You haven't even met Aline yet."

"Who's Aline?" I ask. Izzy tugs on my wrist and pulls me harder towards the door. "That is exactly what I am talking about." she says as she drags me down the hallway and down the stairs. "If you had come down and not been so anti-social, you wouldn't have to ask 'Who's Aline'."

"Well they weren't exactly welcoming me" I say sarcastically, "with a parade when I got here, so excuse me if I am a little wary of hanging out with unknown shadowhunters."

"Quit being such a baby, Simon." she says as she rolls her eyes. That's easy for her to say when she wasn't the one with a blade pointed at her face. We come to the bottom of the stairs and dump out into a den area. Alec and Jace are putting their jackets on and are walking towards the front door. Alec turns and looks at Izzy and I and says, "I don't know when we will be back, so don't wait up." and him and Jace turn and leave. That's when I notice the girl sitting on the couch. She has dark hair, practically black, and is fairly pretty. She has nothing on Izzy, but her features are pleasant. She sits up quickly when she sees me.

"So this is the vampire." the girl says and then looks to Isabelle. "You really weren't kidding when you said he could walk in the daylight."

I look confused for a split second before I realize we have just walked by a window with the curtains pulled back to let in the sunlight. I purposefully take a few steps back and place myself back into the sun to prove my point. "I have never been this close to a vampire before that I wasn't planning on killing." the girl says.

"Jeez Aline. Way to make him feel comfortable." Izzy retorts back. "Simon, this is Aline. Aline, this is Simon. Aline doesn't get out much, so you will have to excuse her."

"No biggie." I reply. "The only shadowhunters I can stand on a regular basis are you and Clary, so your kind isn't my favorite either. Remember how they almost killed me and Luke just a little while ago?"

"Oh my gosh, Simon! Just let it go!." Izzy says exasperatedly. Once again, that's easy for her to say.

"Speaking of Luke, where is he?" I say as I scan the room for him.

"He left a while back saying something about seeing his sister." says Izzy as she pulls me down on the couch with her.

"Are we the only ones here?" I ask looking to Aline.

"For now we are." she answers. "My cousin Sebastian is supposed to be coming soon though. Everyone else is up at the Guard having that meeting about Valentine and his daughter."

"Clary. Her name is Clary." I tell her. Aline then attacks me with question after question. 'What does blood taste like? Where do I live? Are people disgusted by me now?' Typical ignorant shadowhunter questions. We sit and talk for what seems like hours. Long after the sun goes down, Alec and Jace still haven't returned.

"Alright," Izzy begins, "I think it is safe to say that it is time for bed. Simon, walk me to my room." She pulls me up and places her hand on my arm and we walk back upstairs. I notice her room is the one right next to mine. "Goodnight, Simon." she says as she turns to go to her room. "If you need anyone, you know where I am." As she says this, she swivels back around to look at me and she winks and then shuts the door. Isabelle winked at me? Why would she wink at me? I remind myself that all women are crazy and go to "my" room and collapse on the bed.

-Clary.

I spent the rest of the day tending to Jonathan's jaw holding ice packs to his face. He had actually stepped in to protect me and gotten a worse beating from Valentine in return. I apologized over and over again but every time I would start to say "sorry", he would put his hand over my mouth and tell me to stop being ridiculous. Valentine had spent the rest of the day in his room (thank goodness) and we went to bed after we had dinner.

I climbed into bed dressed in the pajamas that Jonathan had grabbed for me. It was some of my old clothes from the apartment that Valentine kept somewhere else in the house. Some sleep shorts and an old holey t-shirt. If felt good to have something familiar with me from my old life. The one before demons and vampires and wearwolves. Thinking about this makes me miss Simon fiercely. I am not even sure what is going on between us. Now that I know that Jace isn't my brother, I definitely want to be with him and I am pretty sure he will want to be with me. But I am not so sure how Simon will take it. I am sure he knows that whatever is between us isn't really working and I hope he will understand. I don't want to lose my best friend and I hope our relationship can survive me being with Jace. Thinking about all of this makes my head hurt so I decide to just go to sleep.

I wake up, once again, to Jonathan tapping on my bedroom door. "Wake up sleepy head!" he shouts through the door. "Meet me in the kitchen in 10 for breakfast."

Ugh. I could seriously kill for coffee right about now. I drag myself out of bed and throw some clothes on and go into the kitchen where Jonathan is leaning across the counter eating oatmeal and drinking a glass of orange juice. When he sees me, he pulls out a bowl of oatmeal from the microwave and places it on the counter in front of him. I go to the other side of the counter and sit across from him on a bar stool. "Thanks." I say to him.

"Don't thank me yet." he replies. I look at him with a confused face and he holds up a finger and tells me to close my eyes. "I have a surprise for you, now close your eyes!" he tells me when I don't comply. So I close my eyes. I hear him set something down on the counter in front of me and hear him say to open my eyes and look down. I obey and when I see what is in front of me, I swear I can hear angels singing the chorus line to Hallelujah. "Coffee! You got me coffee!" I shout at him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you" I say as I run around the counter to give him a big hug. I throw my arms around his neck, careful not to touch his back, and he brings his arms around me and suddenly something cold and wet is running down my back and into my pants. I suck in a sharp breath at the sudden coldness of it.

"Oh my god, Clary. I am so sorry! I wasn't thinking that I had my orange juice in my hand."

"It's okay, Jonathan." I tell him. "You could have dumped a whole bucket over my head and I still wouldn't be mad because you got me coffee. Beautiful, glorious coffee!" He chuckles at my response and then moves his hands down to the bottom of his shirt.

"Here, at least let me give you my shirt. You are completely soaked." he says as he pulls his shirt over his head and hands it to me. "I will turn around while you get changed." and he turns and faces the kitchen. I quickly pull off my pants and shirt and slip his clean shirt over my head and it goes all the way to my knees because I am the size of a small child. Ugh. I glance over at Jonathan and see his muscles rolling in his back under all of his scars. Was he flexing? I walk back over to my bowl of oatmeal and coffee and tell him it's safe to turn around. When he looks at me his eyes widen for a fraction of second and he looks down at his bowl. It was so quick, I am not even sure it happened. When we are done, I excuse myself to go rinse off in the shower because I don't want to be sticky from all of the orange juice. I go into my room and into my bathroom and turn on the water to wait for it to get hot. As I am waiting, I hear voices in the room I just came from. The chance to hear what they are saying while they think no one is listening is too good to pass up. I creep to the door and put my ear up against the crack.

"...the shower." Jonathan says.

"It looks like you are handling your sister with ease." It's Valentine. He must have come down stairs right after I left the room.

"Having a sister is a lot more fun than I thought it would be. She's fiesty." I can tell by his voice he is smiling. "But I thought she would put up more of a fight." he finishes.

"I think she feels a companionship with you, Jonathan, and it is working to our advantage."

"I feel a connection with her that I have never felt with anyone else. Not even you, father. I don't know what she is doing to me, but I feel different." Jonathan says.

"Really? I didn't think you could change." our father says shocked.

"We are one, she and I. I never wish to be parted from her again. Ever." Something about the way Jonathan says this sends chills up my spine.

"Well then. I wouldn't want to come in between such a strong sibling bond." Valentines says. His voice is moving around now. "Had I known she would have such an effect on you, I would have collected her sooner. Maybe you wouldn't have needed all of that social training." 'Social training' I think to myself. What on earth is he talking about?

"And what about Jace, father? Did you get him back yet? Because I don't think we need him. Not when you have me and Clary. We will be unstoppable."

"The Forsaken I sent to collect him failed. That warlock of theirs already had the portal to Allicante up and they ran through before he could be grabbed." Valentine says with obvious irration in his voice.

"Like I said father, I don't think we need him." Jonathan's voice is pleading now. "If he were to come, he would just mess things up between me and Clary, and that is something that I will not allow." His voice starts to sound like Valentine toward the end of the last sentence. Menacing and detached.

"We will continue this conversation later, Jonathan. I have a meeting with Malachai in 20 minutes. Just continue keeping her distracted today. Oh, and I put the box of hair dye in your bathroom."

I quickly step away from the door. I am even more confused than when I first got here. Why would Jonathan need a box of hair dye and social training? And why did he sound so creepy when he was talking about me? AND why does he so desperately not want Jace around? At least I know where they are now. In Allicante. My head begins to hurt when I start to think about all of this new information. I run to the bathroom and hop in the shower to rinse off quickly because I should have been out by now. The water helps quiet the runaway questions and thoughts in my head and helps me refocus myself. I have to get out of here, and soon.

-Simon.

I didn't sleep well last night at all. I heard Jace and Alec get back in around 3 in the morning. It is around 8 o'clock now and I can hear people moving around downstairs. I figure that since I have nothing better to do, I will go and see if I can find Izzy. I take the stairs two at a time and run into Alec in the den area. "Hey Alec. How did it go with the silent brothers yesterday?"

"Long. My head is still killing me." Alec replies while rubbing his forehead. "But I think they got the information about Clary they needed. They are holding a meeting as we speak on ways they can maybe track Clary since no one can obviously track Valentine."

"So they agreed to look for her?" I ask him impatiently.

"Yes. They are launching a full scale search and doubling up on patrols in hopes that someone will see or hear something from downworld like Luke did."

"It's about damn time." I reply just as Jace walks in the room. "And there goes my good mood." He is stuffing his face with some sort of muffin.

"What's about damn time?" Jace asks me. Alec saves me from making an incredibly vulgar and rude comment about Jace and a duck by saying, "I just told him about what the Council said about Clary. That they are going to try and find her because of what she can do. Oh, and that reminds me, Simon. The Inquisitor wants me to bring you up to the Guard around lunch time so they can send you back to New York."

"What? Why? I want to help look. Do patrols or whatever."

Jace speaks up then. "Remember when I told you that downworlders weren't allowed in Allicante? Well I wasn't kidding. They are seriously pissed that we brought you and Luke through."

"What about Luke? Aren't they going to send him back?" I ask.

"He has already left and is in Brocelind forest. They don't mind him being there since that is where most of the wolves in Idris are." Alec offers. "I'm sorry, Simon, but you don't have much of a choice."

This day started out great and took a nose dive down to pure crap. That's when Aline comes around the corner from the kitchen. "The timing is actually perfect. My cousin Sebastian is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning and you are staying in the room we saved for him."

"Glad to see that everyone is so happy to see me go." I say under my breath.

"I'm not happy to see you go." I hear in a whisper by my ear. I spin around and see Isabelle has come down the stairs and is standing right behind me. How are these damn shadowhunters so quiet?

"Oh hey, Isabelle. I didn't see you there. Do you want a muffin?" Smooth, real smooth Simon. The hottest girl ever has just said she will be sorry to see you leave and all you can say is 'Do you want a muffin?'. Ugh. Epic mental face palm.

Lunch rolls around and Alec and I set off up to the Gaurd in silence. Alec is a man of few words and that is fine with me. After about 15 minutes of companionable silence, he stops dead in his tracks and turns to face me. He has this look of someone who is about to be sick. "Do you regret telling Clary how you felt about her? Since, you know, it isn't really working out?"

"Well I had no idea it was that obvious that it wasn't working out between us. You are not the first person to say that to me this week."

"Well, do you?" Alec asks. There is something behind his eyes and I think that there is some deeper reason behind what he is asking me other than just pure curiosity.

I took a deep breath thinking of a way to explain myself. "I don't think it was the best idea. I knew she didn't feel the same way about me and I let my fantasy of being with her block out any other potential relationship. Instead of trying to find someone who would love me that way, I put all of my effort into pining away for Clary. Maybe if I hadn't done that, I could have found someone else. And now I am not sure how to go back to what we were before." Alec seems to take this into consideration. I know he is thinking about how he feels about Jace. So I decide to give him advice without him knowing I am giving him advice. "Like if I had someone who was like Magnus is to you. He seems to really like you and you seem to really like him. If I could have just let myself feel the way you feel towards Magnus to someone else, I wouldn't have made such a mess of things with me and Clary."

The next thing I know he starts walking again. I take this to mean that the conversation is over and I quickly follow behind. We soon make it to the Guard where a very round guy shadowhunter is waiting with two others. "Inquisitor Aldertree. This is Simon Lewis; the daylighter that we have talked about." Alec says.

"Yes, yes." Aldertree answers back. "Nice to meet you, Simon. It isn't everyday we have a daylighter among us. Come, follow me. Myself and these gentlemen" he gestures towards the other two men, "will escort you to the portal. The warlock Magnus Bane will be waiting on the other side for you. Thank you, Alec, for all of your help.". The Inquisitor turns ubruptly and starts making his way into the building leaving Alec behind.

As soon as we are inside the building, Aldertree's posture and demeanor changes. He is not putting off those jovial vibes he was sending out when we were standing with Alec. We enter a room which I believe is his office. He goes to the desk and sits down and gestures for me to do the same in one of the other chairs. "Now, Simon Lewis. Why don't you tell me what is really going on with the Lightwoods. How long have they, and you, been in compliance with Valentine?"


	6. Chapter 6

-Simon

And I thought having to talk to Jace this morning was the worst part of my day. That Aldertree guy is crazy. He actually thinks that I got my ability to walk in the sun from Valentine in exchange for me spying on the Clave. He wanted me to tell them that the Lightwoods were in alliance with Valentine on the boat and they let him have the Mortal Cup and the Mortal Sword. Now I have been thrown in a cell with Stars of David scratched into everything. Now, getting sent back home doesn't seem like a horrible idea at all. And to top it all off, nobody knows I am even in here. They all think I went home. I am sure I am finally starting to go crazy when I think that seeing Jace actually sounds like a good idea.

-Clary

"Okay. Act normal, Clary. Act normal." I whisper to myself. I don't know how I am going to be able to pretend that I didn't just hear that conversation between Valentine and Jonathan. I have no idea what to make of any of it. It sounded like they were actually planning everything together instead of Valentine planning it by himself. I thought that Jonathan was just along for the ride because he didn't have any other option. But when he was talking to our father, he sounded like he planned on having me by his side to help Valentine win the war.

I shake my head to get rid of all of the runaway questions and step out of my room in the tight fitting training clothes Jonathan gave me last night. The top is a little too low cut for my comfort and I can barely breathe because the pants are so tight they are practically and extra layer of skin. I start to climb the stairs and see Jonathan at the top waiting for me still not wearing a shirt. When he sees me, his eyes, once again, widen for a fraction of a second as he scans me from head to toe.

"Yeah, I think you may have gotten the clothes a size too small." I say looking embarrassed.

"No! Not at all." he practically shouts back. I squint my eyes at him in confusion at his reaction. "You don't want the clothes to get in the way when you are training. That is why they have to be so tight." Jonathan finishes.

"Well, okay then. Let's get to it. It's time for me to kick your butt in the training room." As I say this, I make my best imitation of a Jackie Chan Judo chop. He laughs a huge laugh and says, "We will see about that." and we head down the stairs to the training room.

While he is teaching me how to take a knife away from an attacker, I can't help but replay what I heard him say to Valentine earlier this morning. How him and I "are one" and how he wished to "never be parted from me again", and I suddenly pull away from him. He looks at me in confusion and asks me if I am okay. I tell myself to get a grip and act normal and tell him everything is fine.

It has been about 2 hours of training when I realize that most of the training today consists of him holding me against his body in various different ways. "This is what you do when someone grabs you from behind...This is what you do when someone has you pinned to the floor...This is what you do when someone has you pinned against the wall." he would say. He always had his bare chest pressed up against me in some kind of way. The more I think about it, the sicker I feel. He has me pinned against the wall at this point and is looking intensely into my eyes. I shove him as hard as I can and he stumbles two steps back. Before he can pin me again, I ask him "Can I try to attack you. I think I may be getting better at that. Jace showed me a few moves to take someone down." I ask him this because I know there is no way I will be able to catch him off guard.

He scowls imperceptibly when I mention Jace but agrees to my suggestion by saying playfully, "Come at me, little sis."

I start to run at him and I fake like I am going to go low. At the last second, I jump up at him like I did a million times yesterday, never making contact with him, and I land squarely on his chest, knocking him to the ground. When we land he has his arms wrapped around my waist and are faces are less than an inch from each other. He grins up and me and breathily says, "Maybe you did learn something useful from Jace."

I suddenly feel the need to be VERY far away from him. I jump up and say that I think I hurt my wrist and practically run up the stairs and head for the kitchen. I only get about 2 seconds to gather my composure before Jonathan is there grabbing my "injured wrist" to inspect it. "Here, let me get you some ice." he says to me. When he turns around and looks at me, I realize that my face has betrayed me. "Clary, are you okay?" Jonathan asks me. "You look like you are going to be sick."

Oh God. What do I say? "I am just thinking about all of my friends." I tell him. "They must be so worried about me. And I miss them terribly." I move to sit on one of the bar stools to put some distance between us. "And I am getting a little stir crazy being shut up in the apartment all the time."

Jonathan looks at me with sad eyes and moves to sit on the bar stool next to me and places his hand on my knee. I fight the urge to slap his hand away and look up at his face. "I _am_ sorry, Clary, but I can't let you out. Father has his plans and I don't want to anger him again." I decide to try and be sympathetic.

"I know, Jonathan. And I don't blame you. I just really want to go home." I turn my face downward to look at the floor. I see his hand reach out to me and lift my face up by my chin. He smiles half-heartedly at me and says, "Well, you are the magic rune girl. Why don't you make a rune that will allow you to see your friends."

Why on earth did I not think of that? "That actually is a good idea." I tell him. He smiles at me when I tell him that and leaves. He returns with a pencil and a piece of paper. "Here you go, Clary. Get to work."

I get up and walk into the living room being sure to take care of my "injured wrist" and sit in the chair by the fireplace. He can't sit next to me if I am in a chair. He goes and sits across from me in the loveseat and leans forward watching me with his elbows on his knees. His expression reminds me so much of mom in that moment. I close my eyes and begin to think see...see...see. When nothing comes to me, I begin to think spy...spy...spy. That is when I start to see the familiar flicker of lines. A twist here and a swirling line there and I open my eyes. I look down and see a new rune. It says Spy. I glance back up at Jonathan then, and he is looking at me again with that intense burning look mixed with a sort of longing. I have to look away.

"You are so amazing, Clary." he says in a low voice. "You are so much better than I ever could have imagined. We will be an unstoppable team." I don't really know how to respond to his creepy declaration so all I say is "Thanks."

After a moment of, on my part, awkward silence, I look at him and ask him how I will know it works. He seems to think about this for a moment, obviously having and internal debate with himself, when he suddenly jumps up. "I know father has told me under no circumstances that I should let you near a stele, but I feel like I can trust you." he says looking intensely into my eyes. "Can I trust you, Clarissa?" he asks me.

I put on my most innocent face and reply, "Of course you can, Jonathan." and smile encouragingly at him. He smiles widely at me and then turns and practically runs up the stairs.

-Jace.

I hate just sitting here at the Penhallow's house twiddling my thumbs, but the Clave says that since I am a "child", I can't participate in the search for Clary. I haven't slept in days because every time I fall asleep, I dream that Clary is calling my name in the dark and I am running around blind, unable to find her. I look across the room and see Izzy and Aline giggling about something and see Alec striding back into the house. "Well, how did it go?" I ask him.

"It went fine." he replies. "Inquisitor Aldertree was there waiting for him to take him to the portal."

"The Inquisitor?" I ask loudly with shock in my voice. This grabs Aline and Izzy's attention and they stop talking and turn to listen to our conversation. "Why would the Inquisitor want to personally escort Simon to the portal?"

Alec sits on the couch across from me. "I don't know, Jace. He seemed pretty intrigued at the fact that he could walk around in the sun. Maybe he was just curious?"

"Doesn't he have more important things to do?" I say. "There is only a war with Valentine hanging above our heads and he has Clary using her for God knows what."

Aline looks at me with sad look on her face and moves around the coffee table and places herself next to me on the couch, sitting very close. "You must really love your sister." Aline begins to say. "I have never seen someone so worried about someone else. You are a really good big brother." She places her hand on my knee when she finishes.

I chance a look at Izzy and her face is a mixture of amusement and sadness. "Oh, Aline. If you only knew the half of it." Izzy says.

"I know what will take your mind off of everything." Aline says with an excited look. "How about I take you on a walk through the city. I know you haven't been back here in years and you must want to see it again."

Izzy suddenly moves into action. "That is a great idea, Aline." she says while pulling me off the couch. "You and Jace go and take a walk. We aren't doing anything here except sulking."

Before I know it, me and Aline are outside and she has her hand resting comfortably on my arm. As we are walking, I notice her slowly inching her way closer and closer into my side. I am used to girls falling all over me because I am so drop dead sexy, but this is the first time I don't want the attention she is giving me. And it is all because I am in love with my sister. Oh God. How messed up is that? I can't keep doing this to myself. I have to be able to let that part of me go. I can't continue to pine away after Clary. She is my sister, and because of that, any relationship we will ever have has to be platonic. I turn my face down and give her my most charming smile. Maybe if I at least try, I can find someone else. Like Clary did.

Aline and I return to the house at dusk. We have walked the city twice while I told her about my times coming here as a child and making wildly inappropriate jokes. She seems like she has enjoyed herself. We reach the door to her house and I move to open it, reaching around her body. She suddenly turns her face up at me and her eyes bore into mine. I know the look she is giving me. I have seen it a million times from countless girls. She wants me to kiss her. I start to lean in and suddenly I see green eyes and flaming red hair in front of me. I close my eyes and shake my head and begin to open the door. Aline makes a sighing noise, and after a moment's hesitation, she walks inside. 'Way to go Jace. You lean in to kiss a girl and all you see is your sister.' I tell myself.

I smell food cooking when we walk inside and I head for the kitchen to find Alec, Izzy, and Max sitting around the table eating dinner. "Jace!" Max yells and comes running towards me and jumps into my arms. I am instantly in a better mood. "What's up, little dude? Read any cool books lately?"

Max then launched into this very detailed story about some shadowhunter who lived a long time ago who was cursed so that everyone who loved him would die. "Sounds like a happy story, Max. Do all the puppies in the story get brutally murdered too?" I say sarcastically. He then assures me that everything works out in the end.

After dinner, I excuse myself to go to bed hoping to avoid being alone with Aline again. I don't think I can handle imagining kissing my sister while she tries to kiss me. I collapse on my bed and wait for Alec to come to bed. He excused himself in the middle of dinner and left the house saying something about having to check on something.

While I am waiting for him to return, I doze off and dream again. The same one I have been having for days. "Jace! Jace! Where are you?" It's Clary's voice. I am running and running but all I can see is darkness. "Clary!" I yell. "Where are you?!" Her voice grows louder. "Help me Jace! I need you!" and I bolt straight out of bed. I am covered in sweat and am breathing heavily. I look up to see that Alec has come in the room and looks worriedly at me.

"Jace! What's going on? Are you okay?" Alec asks me. "Yeah. I'm fine. It was just the same dream as usual." I reply. He is the only one I have told about my dream. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have my parabatai there for me.

"Well prepare yourself for some not so great news." Alec says warningly. Oh no.

"Have they found Clary?! Is she okay?" I yell at him. I am standing now and holding Alec by the arms.

Alec looks pointedly at my hands and I release him. "The news I have has nothing to do with Clary. Except the fact that she will kill you when she finds out."

"Finds out what?" I ask him impatiently. "Finds out that Simon is locked up in the Guard's prison." he answers back.


	7. Chapter 7

-Clary.

By the time Jonathan has come back downstairs, I have managed to form a plan. Don't try anything this time with the stele. Get him to trust me and he will be more lax and willing to let me have it again. I know he will be waiting for me to try something this time, so I will just have to wait. Bide my time. Convince him that I am on his side. He sits down on the love seat and pats the spot next to him, gesturing for me to join him. I take a deep breath and go and sit next to him. He reaches behind him and pulls out a stele. I make my face like stone so I don't show any emotion at the site of it.

"Okay. I will draw the Spy rune." Jonathan says to me. "Okay." I reply with a smile. He places the stele to the top of the coffee table in front of us and begins to draw the rune. When he is done, a circular window starts to open up. It is shimmering sort of like a portal, but looks more like liquid metal. Jonathan looks at me and shrugs his shoulders. "Maybe you should tell it what you want to see." Jonathan says to me. There is only one person I want to see. I look at the circle of shimmering metal and say, "Show me Jace." I can instantly see from the corner of my eye that this was a bad choice of a person. Jonathan immediately tenses and the muscles in his jaw flex. But when after a few seconds nothing happens, he seems to relax.

"Maybe if you tell it someone to see?" I say looking a my brother. "Alright. Show me Clary." he says. All of a sudden, I can see me and Jonathan looking at the circle of the rune we made and the image repeats itself over and over again. "That's awesome." he whispers.

"Is that what I look like from the side?" I say in horror. "My nose looks ridiculous!"

Jonathan immediately starts laughing a huge belly laugh. He doubles over on the couch leaning heavily against my side. "What is so funny, Jonathan?" I ask him. "I have just become aware of my profile and I am devastated." This sends him into another fit of laughter.

"You have just created a new, and very powerful rune, and all you can say is 'My nose looks ridiculous'." he says in between laughter. Okay, I guess it was a little funny if not vain on my part. I give him a small giggle in return. "Okay, okay. I may see your point." I admit to him.

"I am guessing that it only works for the person who makes the rune." Jonathan points out. "Here, you try it." and he holds the stele out for me. I look back up at him with hesitation and surprise written all over my face. He returns my gaze and simply states, "I trust you."

"Thanks, Jonathan. I am glad you do." I reply as I take the stele. I turn to the table and draw the Spy rune and the circle of shimmering metal begins to appear again. I don't want to anger him so I decide to ask for someone else when Jonathan says, "What about your friend, Simon? Why don't you see how he is doing. I know you miss him terribly."

"Okay. Show me Simon." I say sternly. The shimmering immediately starts to form a picture. I soon see Simon's face and he is sleeping. I am so happy to see him that a tear escapes my eye. Jonathan reaches over and catches it with his thumb. That is when I realize where he is. There are stone walls and a stone floor with a small window with bars across it in the corner of the room. "Oh my GOD, Jonathan! He is in JAIL! Why is he in jail?!" Jonathan quickly scoots closer to me and places a hand on my back.

"I don't know, Clary." he answers. "I have to go help him!" I shout at him while I stand up. "I have to help him!" I start to spin in circles, unsure of where to go. I look to the place where I set the stele down, and it is gone. Jonathan wraps his arms around me and starts to make circling motions on my back to try and soothe me.

"You know you can't go, Clary." he whispers in a low voice. By this point I am hysterically crying. I am crying because I don't know why Simon is in jail. I miss my mom and Luke. I want to go home. And most of all I miss Jace so bad it physically hurts. I don't care that Jonathan is holding me while I cry. It actually feels nice to have someone comfort me. He pulls me down into his lap and I just sit and cry. I don't know how much time passes before the tears finally stop pouring. Jonathan kisses the top of my head and makes a joke about how the Hoover Dam has nothing on hormonal teenage girls and I can't help but laugh.

"Thanks for making me laugh, Jonathan." I tell him. "I needed that."

"Anytime." he whispers back.

That is when I hear someone close a door. I turn to see our father standing next to the fading door. "Well this is interesting." Valentine says as he surveys the scene in front of him. I quickly jump up and leave Jonathan sitting on the couch. "I am going to take a nap." I tell him and run to my room. I slam the door shut and climb into bed and close my eyes and wait for sleep to take me.

After a long while, I realize that sleep isn't coming so I just lay there and stare at the wall. I feel so helpless. I am supposed to be a strong and tough shadowhunter and not lay crying in my bed like a useless little girl. I have to think. I have to start planning my escape. I have to...

I hear my doorknob turning and I immediately shut my eyes and try to portray sleeping beauty. Still. Unmoving. Slow and steady breathing. Relaxed face. I can hear whoever this is coming closer. I feel breath on the back of my head and then a very faint kiss on my hair. Who is kissing me? It has to be Jonathan. The thought of Valentine showing any emotion other than irritation and disdain towards me is way too far fetched. I hear the light footsteps retreating and my door softly close. I immediately roll out of bed and tip toe to the door and once again, I hear Jonathan and Valentine's voices.

"...you saying earlier about a new rune?" Valentine asks Jonathan.

"I got her to create a new rune. And one I think will be incredibly useful. She called it the Spy rune. It lets you see anyone you want, where ever they are."

"Really? How did you manage to do that?" Valentine asks.

"She started whining about all of her stupid friends and I suggested she make a rune. One that lets her see whatever she wants."

"Good work, Jonathan. What does it look like?"

"It's right here." I hear footsteps and paper rustling. "This will be incredibly useful." says Valentine as I hear his voice moving around. It sounds like it is getting farther away. 'No. Come back.' I think to myself.

I am assuming they have moved further into the living room because I am only catching every other word. I decide to take a chance and crack open my door. Just a little.

"...her have my stele." Jonathan says.

"You did WHAT?!" our father says through clenched teeth. "What did I tell you, son? She is not to be trusted! The first chance she gets, she will betray us just like her mother did."

Jonathan's voice gives me chills when he speaks. "Do not talk about her like that. I trusted her and she did not betray ME. I gave her my stele and she didn't try to escape. She wants to be here with me whether she realizes it or not. She will not leave me here. We are a team."

Oh...my...God. There is something truly wrong with him. I didn't want to see it at first, but he is exactly like Valentine. This realization almost makes me physically sick. He has been manipulating me this whole time. Making me feel sorry for him within the first few minutes of us meeting by showing me his scarred back. Standing up to our father knowing he will beat him to make me feel the need to protect him. Showing me something to upset me and then comforting me and making me feel safe. I can't believe I have been so stupid.

"Are you sure about that?" Valentine asks Jonathan.

"Very sure. She feels sorry for me and wants to protect me from you. She loves me, father. And I love her."

When I hear no reply, I turn my head to see through the crack in my door as the silence stretches on. Our father is standing facing the kitchen while, I think, Jonathan is sitting on the couch behind him. Valentine has one arm folded across his waist and the other is being used to grasp the back of his neck. "I did not think that you were capable of love." he says.

"I don't know how else to explain it." Jonathan begins to say, "other than with the word love. She is mine and I am hers. You made us to be together. One light child and one dark. We complete each other."

Valentine now had turned a weird shade of green. "That is enough, Jonathan." he says in a whisper yell. "You will stop talking about your sister like that. Understood?"

When Jonathan replies, his voice is pure ice. "Yes, father. That is understood."

I can see the worry on Valentine's face. He realizes he is losing his control over his son, and by the look on his face, it scares him.

This is when I realize something too horrible to imagine. If Valentine is scared of him, then what exactly is Jonathan capable of. Something deep down inside of me tells me that I don't want to know.

"Don't forget you have to leave tomorrow." Valentine has regained his composure and turns to face Jonathan. "You have to be there for us to move forward with the plan. Without you, it all falls apart. Explain this to Clarissa this evening at dinner."

"Yes, father." Jonathan replies.

I don't think I can hear anymore so I softly shut the door and slide down until I am leaning against it.

-Jace

"What in the hell are you talking about, Alec?!" I yell at him. "YOU said you were taking him to the portal and now he is in the cells at the Gaurd?! How did that happen?"

Alec is moving his hands up and down in front of him in a calming motion. "Jace, take a breath and calm down, will you."

"Don't tell me to calm down, Alec. Why is he in jail?" I ask him. He moves to sit down on my bed and begins to explain everything. How he sent a fire message to Magnus, and he had not heard a word about Simon coming back and how there had been no portal activity in New York since we left. And then how he went to the Guard to ask the Inquisitor where Simon was and how he overheard two guards talking about starving the daylighter down in the dungeons.

I stand up and cross the room and grab my jacket. "Where are you going, Jace?" Alec asks me.

"I am going to break Simon out of jail." I reply and I jump out of the window before he can stop me.

I hit the pavement at a run knowing that by the time Alec gets downstairs I will be long gone. It seems that no matter what I do, I am failing Clary. Not only did she get kidnapped under my watch, I let her best friend (I refuse to say boyfriend) get thrown in jail. I ruin everything I touch. I guess I should have expected that would happen being Valentine's son. He made me to be just like him. I wonder, not for the first time, how Clary managed to turn out so differently. We came from the same people, yet I destroy things while she brings life and love to everyone and anything she touches. I should have known I couldn't have her. She is too good for me. I would only ruin her.

I pull myself out of my pity party long enough to locate the cells where they open up to the hill. "Simon!" I whisper yell into the first one. I see what I think are a heap of blankets move and then sit up and say, "Next one down." and the heap lays back down. I slide down to the next window. "Simon. Wake up. Your knight in shining armor has arrived to rescue you." I tell him. I see movement and suddenly Simon appears at the window.

"What are you doing here, Jace?" he says angrily.

"You know, people are usually happy to see me." I remind him. "Especially if I am the one about to break them out of jail."

"Well I am not." Simon says through his teeth. "You have to leave now, Jace. Before someone sees you."

"Why would I do that?" I ask him in a shocked voice. Simon glares at me and whisper yells angrily, "Whether you will admit it or not, you don't know everything. Now LEAVE." What on earth is he talking about? Does he actually want to stay in jail?

"Give me one good reason I should leave you here?" I challenge him. Watching him come up with something should be fun.

"Because if you break me out of jail, you will put your whole family in my place."

This definitely gets my attention. I tell him to explain and he quickly tells me about what the Iquisitor is trying to get him to say. With every word, I am growing angrier and angrier. I will be damned if I don't agree with my father. The Clave is corrupt and needs to be rebuilt. So I go against my better judgement and leave him in the cell that I found him in. Clary is going to kill me when she finds out.

I trek back to the Penhallow's and sneak in through the front door. I climb the stairs all the way to the top where mine and Alec's room is and step inside to find Alec pacing frantically. He strides over to me to, I think, give me a big hug (who wouldn't want to hug me on site) when he punches me in the stomach. "That's for leaving me, your parabatai, behind. Now good night." and he turns off the light. 'Is no one happy to see me anymore?' I think to myself.

-Clary.

"Okay. Breathe. Just breathe." I whisper to myself. I have been sitting in my room on the verge of having a panic attack for the past half hour. "You can do this, Clary." I chant to myself. Now I have to go out there and pretend I didn't just hear the conversation they had. I have to put on the performance of a lifetime and get out of here and help Simon. I need to find Jace because he will know how to help me. "Stop being a chicken and go." is the last thing I tell myself before I open my door and step out hopefully looking like I just woke up. Jonathan, who is sitting on the couch sees me and jumps up. He walks over to me and encircles me in a big hug.

"Are you okay? Did you have a good nap? he asks me.

I pull away and look up at him and give him my best imitation of a warm smile and say, "Yeah. I feel much better now. I think I just needed to get that out of me. I don't think that will happen again." This seems to put him at ease. "Well good." Jonathan says as he takes my hand and pulls me to the kitchen. "That was enough girly teenage angst to last me about a year. I don't think I have ever seen that much emotion. Ever. Father has always been like a stone with his emotions. Hard and unmoving." He looks down at me and gives me an encouraging smile. I realize then that I do have a weapon at my disposal. My emotions. So I decide to look at them as a tool and this helps me focus and relax. It allows me to become detached from how I feel.

"So..." I say leaning against the counter. "What's for dinner?" He leans in and tells me that he is going to make a pizza and we are going to have a movie night to try and cheer me up. I give him a smile and stick out my hand for a handshake. "Deal." and he shakes my hand. He spins around and opens the freezer to pull out one of those frozen pizzas and that is when I see my salvation. He has either apparently forgotten that his stele is in his back pocket or he just doesn't think I will try to grab it to escape. Either way, I still have to put on one hell of a performance because right now, the site of him scares me and puts me in a rage at the same time. 'I have to let him think he is in control' I tell myself.

"Is there anything you want me to do, Jonathan?"

"You can go pick out a movie. But nothing too girlie. One man can only handle so much emotion in one day." I can tell he meant that to be a joke so I laugh.

I go to the living room and pick out a movie that is slow and hard to follow. I want him to fall asleep and let his gaurd down. While the pizza is cooking, I go in the kitchen and make small talk with him. Tell him about the time the microwave blew up and splattered me and Simon with our fruit jelly pudding mixture when we were 8. And about the time Simon got turned into a rat. I could laugh about it now. Or at least I could tell myself I can laugh about it to put Jonathan at ease. When the pizza is done, we move into the living room, Jonathan stopping to fiddle with what I think is the thermostat, and turn on the movie. Simon and I had gone to the theater to see this movie and we had both fallen asleep. So now it becomes a waiting game.

About 20 minutes into the movie and cold chill runs it's way down my body. Jonathan, of course, notices this and immediately pulls me close into his body, tucked up under the crook of his arm. He starts to rub his hands hurriedly up and down my arms. "You are freezing, Clary."

'Don't freak out. Don't pull away. Smile.' I remind myself through the rolling sick feeling I have in the pit of my stomach. "Yeah. I guess I am." And I turn my head the best I can and give him my best fake smile. He seems to buy it and then moves one of his hands around his body and grabs my hand and interlocks our fingers. 'Oh God. I don't think I can do this' I think to myself, but then I remind myself of Simon in the prison and Jace's warm smile and I know I can.

Jonathan leans back into the couch and pulls me with him into his body. I wake up to find that the movie is long over and I am still under his arm. Oh crap. I fell asleep. It must be really late. I look down at the clock on the dvd player and it says 4:30. Oh no. I have been asleep all night. But I am still under his arm. It is weighing heavily on me and his breathing is deep and slow. His hand that is tangled in mine has loosened it's grip on my fingers. Now is the best chance I have. It's now or never.

I slowly, very slowly, start to pull myself away from his body. I slip my hand out from under his and lift his arm up by the wrist and place it on the back of the couch. I slowly lean up and turn my head to look him in the face to make sure he is out. His jaw is slack and his head is leaning heavily against the couch. I slip off of the couch and plan my approach. His stele was in his back left pocket, the one that is on the opposite side of me. Holding my breath, I bend down and start to push against the cushion of the couch so I can get my hand around and into his pocket. It takes a while, but I can finally feel the opening of his pocket. I ever so carefully inch my way into his pocket (for once thanking my mother for my tiny hands) and find his stele. My heart breaks into a sprint while I slowly pull it out from behind him. 'Oh my gosh. I actually did it!' I tell myself and do an internal happy dance.

Now I have to move fast. I run lightly to my room, glancing back frantically to make sure he is still asleep. I get inside and shut the door and look for my shoes. I have no idea where we are but now that I have the Portal rune, leaving here should be fairly easy. I put the tip of the stele to the wall and draw the Spy rune and ask to see Jace. His image appears but he is in an unfamiliar hallway going into a library with a mosaic window. He looks absolutely exhausted. Not that I have the image of where I want to go, I draw a Portal rune on the wall. And noting happens. Then I remember thinking that there was no way out of here except the disappearing door in the kitchen. Crap. That means I have to go back out there and be exposed.

I quickly draw a Soundless rune on me and open my door. From the look of him, Jonathan is still sleeping soundly. I slowly make my way to where I have seen the door and suddenly stop in my tracks. I am standing where Jonathan was standing when he turned around and told me to change into his shirt. I look on the counter and see what I didn't see the first time. The microwave door reflects the whole room behind where he was standing. I wave of nausea hits when I realize he could see me while I was changing.

After that sickening realization, I throw myself at the invisible door and try an ordinary Open rune. Nothing. So I close my eyes and clear my head and think. I start to see what looks like an Open rune, but isn't. It speaks of unlocking hidden secrets. I decide to give it a try. I put the stele to the wall and draw the rune. The door starts to coalesce and grab the knob and swing it open and step out into a field. The moon is bright and I can see woods and what looks like a small cabin just in the wood line. I turn and shut the door and start to run. The moment I reach the woods, I hear a familiar voice scream my name at the top of his lungs. Jonathan has just woken up and discovered me gone.


	8. Chapter 8

**Fair warning, there is smut in this chapter.**

 **-Jace**

"Clary! Clary! Where are you?!" I am running and running and I can't see anything. "Jace! Help me! I need you! Save me!" Clary's voice is panicked. "Clary! Tell me where you are." Then I hear her voice whisper in my ear and feel her breath on my neck. "I'm right here. Now _wake up_."

I sit straight up in bed panting as usual and looking around wildly. I could have sworn on the angel that she was here with me. I swing my legs over the side of the bed and lean down to place my head in between my legs. I take deep long breaths while I calm myself. After a few minutes, my racing blood has slowed and my heart rate has returned to normal. I get out of bed and throw on a shirt and jeans and leave the room. I know there is no point in trying to go back to sleep.

I walk down stairs and to the kitchen and fill a glass with water. It feels like I have run a marathon so I down it quickly and refill the glass. The dream is replaying in my head over and over again. Everything about it was the usual dream except the end. I climb the stairs headed to the library. Reading usually helps me relax and calm the thoughts in my head. I open the door and step inside and walk over to one of the book shelves and start looking for a familiar title.

"I didn't expect anyone else to be up this early." I turn quickly and see that Aline is sitting in a dark corner of the room.

"Well it wasn't exactly planned." I tell her. She stands up and walks over to me. "What do you mean by that?" she asks me.

"I had a bad dream and now I can't go back to sleep."

Aline comes closer and places her hand on my upper arm. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No!" I almost yell it at her. "Sorry. I just don't want to talk about it." She looks at me and smiles while she says, "That's okay, Jace. Why don't we talk about something else?"

I notice she still has her hand on my arm. I take a few steps away from her towards the middle of the room and lean against the back of a couch. When I turn back to look at her I notice her shirt looks different. 'Did she just unbutton her shirt almost half way down while I walked over here?' I ask myself while I notice she has a lacy bra on. "What do you want to talk about, Aline?"

She starts to slink her way towards me. She is slinking to me. "Oh, I don't know." she says with a kind of pouty face. "Why didn't you kiss me earlier when we were coming in the door. I thought we had a good time together. You started to kiss me, but then you just stopped. Is it because you have a girlfriend?"

"No, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Then what's the problem?" Aline is now standing right in front of me. She reaches out and takes my water from me and sets it on a table next to the couch. Then she reaches out and starts dragging her fingers lazily up and down each of my arms.

"Well there's not really a problem. I just...I don't know what happened." I lie smoothly. The problem is that all I can see is Clary. When I close my eyes. When I am walking down the street. When I go to sleep at night. I see her everywhere.

Aline starts to lean into me, looking at my lips. So I close my eyes and see Clary. Her green eyes are so beautiful when they look into mine. I suddenly feel lips against mine. A soft brush at first. Then our mouths open and I wrap my arms around her. I can still see Clary behind my eyes. 'Clary, Clary, Clary' I say to myself. When I finally start to let myself go, I hear the door to the library slam shut. Aline and I instantly pull apart and look to see who just came in. Aline looks pissed. "And who the hell are you?" she asks.

"Clary?!" I say in absolute surprise.

 **-Clary**

"CLARY!" Jonathan shouts. He sounds furious. I duck behind a tree and hold still. I don't want him to be able to spot my bright hair. "CLARY! Come back right now! You can _not_ leave me!"

I look further into the woods and see the cottage I spotted earlier about 20 yards away. If I could just get to the wall of the cottage, I could make a portal. But there is a problem. There are barely any trees blocking the view of the cottage from the apartment. I stand there trying to decide what I should do. Do I make a run for the cottage or do I try to hide further into the woods? That is when I here Jonathan again.

"I seeeeee you, Clary!" His voice is loud and sounds menacing and at the same time like he is having fun. "I see you hiding with that tree to your back." _OH MY_ _GOD_ . The Spy rune. He starts again. "Why do you look so scared Clary? I won't hurt you. Just come back to me and I won't be mad." His voice is much softer when he says this.

Now, I don't have a choice. I have to make a run for the cottage. I steel myself and run as fast as I can to the wall. As I am running, I hear Jonathan yell "Where do you think you are going, sister of mine?"

My shirt catches on a branch slowing me down so I pull as hard as I can and it rips a huge hole in the arm. I am almost there at this point. Just a little bit further. "Don't you even think about it." Jonathan's voice is much closer now. I slam into the wall and my hands move faster than I ever thought possible. Within seconds the portal appears and I step into it thinking of where I saw Jace earlier. As the portal is pulling me in, I hear Jonathan yell one last time from incredibly close by, "I _will_ come for you!"

I land lightly in the hallway I saw before. I look around and see the door that he was walking into. I take a second to calm my frantic breathing and mind and smooth my hair and open the door. It takes a while for my eyes to adjust when I see Jace kissing some dark headed girl. I freeze in shock. My throat closes up and my heart falls to my feet. The door shuts behind me then, breaking them out of their make out session. The girl looks up at me with hatred and says, "And who the hell are you?"

I then look to Jace. His face is one of pure and utter shock. There is no other way to describe it. He locks eyes with me and I lock eyes with him. " _Clary_?!" he says in disbelief. And then he is running to me. I freeze in place, not really knowing what to do. A part of me wants to run to him and jump in his arms and kiss him passionately. The other part of me wants to punch him in the face. He reaches me then and grabs me into a hug. He is squeezing me so tightly, I can barely breathe. When I don't return the hug, he pulls away and looks at me with confusion.

"Are you hurt?" he asks me with panic laced in his voice. I turn my head to see that the girl he was kissing is buttoning up her shirt and is walking towards me.

"Don't come near me." I tell the girl. She stops dead in her tracks. I look back at Jace. He is holding me by my arms and looking intensely into my eyes.

" _Are you hurt, Clary?!_ "

"Not physically." I tell him and I turn and open the door. Before I can even think, I am running down the stairs and find the front door and throw it open. I run out into the street before I feel someone grab my arm and spin me around. It's Jace. He looks deep into my eyes. "What is going on, Clary? How did you get here?" These are both very valid questions but all I can say is "You were kissing her. That girl in there. Her shirt was unbuttoned."

This statement from him clearly takes him by surprise. "Well...yes. Why do you care? You're my sister." he says defensively and lets go of my arm.

"That's just it, Jace. I am not your sister. Never have been."

"What are you talking about, Clary. You are not making any sense. Come inside and tell me what is going on." Jace puts his hand on my back and starts to push me towards the door.

"No. Stop pushing me!" I yell at him. He looks hurt and shocked but drops his hand.

"There are two Jonathans." I start to explain. "The real one, and then you. You were never Valentine's son." He looks at me like I am speaking a different language. "Don't you see?" I continue. "He raised you, but you are not biologically his. I have met my real brother and you are not him."

The truth begins to dawn on him. His face unfreezes and his eyebrows scrunch together with thought. "Then who _is_ my father?" he asks me.

"I don't know." I tell him.

"So, I am definitely not your brother and you are definitely not my sister?" he asks me. "No. Like I said, you never were." All of a sudden, he is moving towards me with this crazed look in his eyes and he is kissing me. He grabs at my hair and his lips are warm against mine and I can't control myself anymore. I throw my arms around his neck and bury my hands in his hair. And then I push him back. "Wait, wait." I say trying to catch my breath. "Who were you kissing?"

He has the decency to look guilty. "It doesn't matter who she is. I was imagining you the whole time. I see you everywhere. In my dreams. Every time I blink, there you are, tattooed on the back of my eyelids. Don't you see?" he asks me as he grabs my arms and gently shakes me. "I will _never_ see anyone but you. Not even if I live a thousand years. I will always see only you."

This time I am the one to crash into him. I hear him make a noise deep in his throat and I can't get enough of him. I want to feel every part of him on every part of me. I press my body against him with every ounce of strength I have and he wraps his arms all the way around me and runs his hands up my back from under my arms. My hands are threading in his hair and running over his face as we devour each other with our kiss. I was slowly starving to death and I didn't even realize it.

We break apart and we touch our foreheads together as we try to catch our breath. He is breathing harder than I have ever heard him breath and we are both trembling. "I love you, Clary. I love you, I love you, I love you." he chants in a low whisper.

"I love you with everything I am, Jace. I always have. Since the first moment I saw you. I will love you forever. I love you." and I can't help but let out a small yet hysterical giggle. "I can't believe I can say that now."

"Say it again." Jace says as he closes his eyes. "I love you, Jace." He lets a small crazed smile spread across his face while his eyes are still closed. I lean up to kiss him again and that's when we hear someone clear their throat.

"Ahem." We both look up to see Alec, Izzy, and the girl (the skank) staring at us with their mouths on the ground. The girl is the first one to say something. "But she's your sister!" she announces with a disgusted look on her face.

Izzy then gives a small laugh with no humor and says, "I told you, Aline. You don't know the half of it."

Jace and I are still tangled in each others' arms and look back at each other and laugh low breathy laughs. We turn our heads back to our audience and I say, "He's not my brother." at the exact same time Jace says "She's not my sister." We both look back at each other then and smile and laugh again. I feel like I can't stop laughing. I am so happy in this moment.

Alec takes a few steps towards us and says "Would you two like to explain what is going on? Like, how did you get here, Clary? Are you okay?" Jace suddenly stops his barrage of questions by saying "We will tell you everything later. Right now, I have a favor to ask Izzy." Jace takes one step back away from me freeing one arm while keeping the other securely wrapped around my waist.

Isabelle looks thoroughly confused but comes forward. She stops right in front of Jace and he leans forward and begins to whisper something in her ear. At first she looks confused but then she raises her eyebrows in understanding and pulls away from him. When she looks at me, a small smile forms on her face. She looks back to Jace and says "Whatever you want." and moves aside to let us pass. He starts to walk towards the house pulling me with him.

We climb the stairs to the foyer and cross over the threshold passing by the girl who Izzy called Aline. I know it is childish and petty but I can't help myself. I give her a smug smirk as to say, 'He's mine' as we pass by her. When we enter the house he turns his head back to look at me and his eyes are so alive. I can see his love for me in his eyes because every time he looks at me, they change to darker color and flame up like there is fire behind them at the same time. He starts to lead me up the stairs in silence and we come to a hall with two doors and we take the second one. He opens the door and pulls me through behind him. I see that he has led me to a bedroom with a large four poster bed in the middle of it. I turn and shut the door and Jace reaches behind me and locks it. When I look up at him, I can see the hunger in his eyes. The same hunger that I know is in mine and we crash together once again.

Before I know it, I am reaching for the bottom of his shirt and lifting it over his head, only breaking our kiss to let the shirt pass. He then reaches for the bottom of my shirt but I am already pulling it over my head. He wraps his arms around me and grabs me by my backside and picks me up. I greedily wrap my legs around his waist and crush his chest to mine with my arms that are wrapped around his arms and neck. He carries me over to the bed, our mouths never breaking contact, and leans over to lay me down. We kiss like this for a while until he breaks away and starts trailing hot wet kisses down my neck, over my chest and onto my stomach while I dig my fingers in his hair.

I feel his slim fingers pull my shoes off and then unbutton my pants and practically rip them off of me. He steps back and looks at me in my ravaged state. I am in nothing but my bra and panties and my chest is rising and falling at a rapid pace. I raise my hand and motion for him to come back and he leans back down over me. I look into his eyes and see the question he is asking me. I love him so much it hurts. I give him a nod and reach down and unbutton his jeans while he holds still, never breaking eye contact with me. Once I get the zipper undone he kisses me a little softer this time. He wraps one arm around my back and the other is holding up his weight on the bed when he lifts me up and slides me onto the bed further. I can feel the muscles in his back flex when he does this and I sigh heavily into his mouth while a small squeaking sound that I have never heard before escapes my throat.

He suddenly pulls away and stands up to undress further and climbs back onto the bed. He comes back up to my face and brushes the hair out of my eyes. I lean up for a kiss while he slides his hand around to my back and finds my bra clasp. He gives it a little squeeze and it comes undone instantly. He grabs one side and begins to pull it out from behind my back and exposes my body to his. His body gives a small shudder as he looks at me and says "You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen." I reach up to his face and run my fingers from his chin and up his jaw, into his golden hair. I pull him in for a small kiss and then we take those last few steps into to unknown and we give ourselves to each other.

I don't know how much time passed but it feels like hours when we collapse back onto the bed. I reach over to him and run my fingers down his face. Both of us lay pressed up against each other, every part of our bodies connected in some way. We lay like that for long while, while we come down from our highs. Eventually, he looks up at me from where he was resting his head in the crook of my neck and says, "I love you, Clary." The way he says it leaves no doubt in my mind that he means what he says and I reply, "Love you more." and we smile at each other and close our eyes and let exhaustion take us under.

 **-Simon**

I know it is almost dawn because the sky is starting to brighten ever so slowly. 'I wonder what Clary is doing right now' I think to myself.

"Simon!" I hear in a hushed whisper. I turn and look at my window and see Isabelle's face. "Come here." she says to me. I stand up from my stone bed and take the few steps to the window.

"What are you doing here, Izzy?"

"I just wanted to give you this blood." and she hands me a flask that I greedily take from her and start to down it. "Oh, and to tell you that Clary is back."

I practically choke on the blood and have to stop myself from doing a 'spit take'. " _What_ did you say?! Clary is back?! But how? Is she okay?" I have to quiet my voice after the first two things I say because I realize I was almost yelling.

Isabelle turns her head and gives a small giggle before saying, "Clary is more than okay right now. I would venture to say that she is feeling better than she ever has." She turns her head away and smiles knowingly at something. I am about to ask her what her deal was and why was she speaking so cryptically when she whispers, "Someone is coming. I gotta go." and blows me a kiss. The moment she is gone I smile for two reasons. Clary is back and is safe and I am pretty sure, for some insane reason, Izzy likes me. Suddenly, the jail cell I am in disappears and I allow myself a huge smile.


	9. Chapter 9

-Jonathan

I wake up smiling because I am getting everything I never knew I wanted. Having a sister was so much fun. Clary had felt so comfortable with me, she fell asleep in my arms. I realize then, that my side where she was is cold. She is not with me anymore. She must have gone to bed. I stand up to go and check on her. Maybe I will kiss her. I know she wants to kiss me but is afraid of how I will react. The way she felt against me today in training was exhilarating. I know she enjoyed being pressed up against me. That's why she wanted to try attack moves on me. So she would be on top for once. So I let her. I reach her door then, and slowly start to open it. I look in her bed and realize she is gone. I move to her bathroom and she is not there either.

Rage. Burning rage is all I feel. I welcome it because it, and it alone, has been my constant companion. It sharpens every thing into to crystal and makes me focus. I already know my stele is gone so I run as fast as I can, which is pretty damn fast, up the stairs and into Father's room and take a stele from the hidden compartment in the wall. I run back down stairs and draw the familiar rune to open the door. She couldn't have gone far. I know I can catch up to her. Hunting her down will be more fun than I have had in years. Doesn't she know by now there is no where for her to go that I will not find? "CLARY!" I scream into the night.

I then remember to turn on my charm which is irresistible when I want it to be. Make her feel sorry for you I remind myself. "Clary! Come back right now! You can not leave me!" Nope, that didn't come out right. Be more pleading. Like Ms. Whitelaw, my social teacher, was before I killed her. And then I remember her Spy rune. I turn and face the wall and draw her very handy rune. "Show me my sister" I tell it. This is so much _fun_!

"I seeee you, Clary." The terrified look on her face is almost enough to get me off then and there. "I see you hiding with that tree to your back!" I can feel myself growing in my pants as I see realization flood her face. She can go nowhere where I will not find her. She is mine. "Why do you look so scared, Clary? I won't hurt you." I lie flawlessly. "Just come back to me and I won't be mad." My voice is as smooth as butter when I say that last part.

That is when I see her fiery hair jump out in the distance. I move into action and run full speed after her already reveling in the terrified look she will give me when I catch her. I see what she is running for. The cottage father raised me in. If she gets to the wall she can draw a portal. 'NO' I growl to myself. She is at the wall now drawing the rune. I pick up my pace growing angrier. I am really close now. I see the portal start to form. "Don't you even think about it!" She steps into the portal just as I reach her, but it is too late. "I will come for you" I promise her. And she is gone. I stand there and try to count backwards from ten like Father taught me. I can hear footstep coming towards me and I spin around to face my father but keep my head down.

He cannot see my face like this. He will say I need to control myself but I know he will revel in the fact that he was right.

"Where is Clarissa." he asks me. I cannot answer him. My jaw is clenched shut from me trying to control my rage. "Jonathan, I asked you a question and I expect you to answer me."

"She is gone, father."

"And how is that possible? You told me she wouldn't betray you. That you were a team. Tell me, Jonathan, what did I say to you when you told me that?" His voice is smug and I am growing tired of his questions. Let him see me for who I am. I lift my face up at him and let myself show in my eyes. I smile a slow smile when I see his reaction to me. His eyes widen for a fraction of a second, but I see it as I see everything around me. He is beginning to understand that I will take his place one day. Maybe sooner than later. He regains his composure and puts on the face he thinks still scares me.

"What do you suppose we do now, Jonathan?" His voice is angry and impatient.

"Continue with the plan, father."

"And how do we do that? She will tell everyone who you are." father says.

"She will not know who I am because she will not see me. I will know where she is every moment of the day. Her Spy rune has made sure of that." A plan begins to form in my mind. It will be the funnest game ever. Cat and mouse. "Did you have that warlock complete the block on both of us, yet?" I ask him.

"I did. It was the first thing I did after you showed me the rune. We can't have people know where we are." father tells me.

"I will go and prepare, father. But you must trust me. I will NOT fail you again." and I walk back to the apartment. I go to my room and draw the Spy rune. "Show me mine own sister." I tell it. She is laying on a bed in just her underwear. ' _YES_ ' I tell myself. This has to be my favorite rune. And that is when I see the golden boy touching what is mine. I feel the anger build from inside my chest and flow through me in hot waves. 'I will kill him the slowest' I think to myself before I turn and throw my wardrobe through the window.

-Jace.

When I wake up, I can see that the sun is streaming into the room at an odd angle and I realize it must be the afternoon. That is when I remember what happened. I look over to see Clary looking like an angel with a halo of bright hair fanned out on the pillow. She is sleeping on her back and her head is turned towards me with one hand resting by her face, palm up, while the other is draped across her stomach. The sheets are tangled around her naked body exposing the top half of her and weaving their way over and under her thighs. A pang runs through my heart as I realize she is mine. I don't know what I did to deserve something so good and pure.

I start to think back to last night; or was it this morning? I have been with girls before Clary and thought I knew what sex was about. She has, once again, taken everything I thought I knew and tossed it out of the window. I close my eyes and start to relive every moment. When she walked through the library door, it felt like I willed her to appear. And then when she told me she wasn't my sister, it was like the most beautiful music to my ears. Then I jump to the bedroom we are in right now. The way she looked at me was like I was her air and she was suffocating. The way her body felt in my hands. The way her back was sensually arched completely off the bed is something that I will _neve_ r forget. Her moaning at my touch and saying my name over and over again.

I open my eyes, unable to not be touching her. I trace my hand up the middle of her stomach and trail my fingers lightly in between her breast while she begins to stir. I continue my path up her neck and over her jaw and bring my lips to hers. She voices a sighing moan, and leans into the kiss. When I pull back, her beautiful green eyes are glistening. "I love you." she whispers to me.

I briefly close my eyes and whisper "I love you more." back to her. She smiles a lazy smile and replies "Not possible."

She slides her naked body up and against mine and I fold her into the spot that was made just for her under my arm. We just lay there holding each other for a long while until she turns her head up at me and rests her chin on my chest. "I think we should probably go downstairs. Everyone probably has a million questions for me." she says softly.

"I know I do." I tell her. "I have been sitting here, going out of my mind trying to think of ways to rescue you, and you just appear out of nowhere."

"If you haven't noticed, I don't need anyone to rescue me. I am pretty bad-ass if I say so myself."

I can't help but chuckle at her. "I can see that, my love. But I would have loved to be your knight in shining armor so we could ride off into the sunset together whilst you sit upon my noble steed in front of me." I am thoroughly pleased when she bursts out in laughter.

"I am getting no where near ANY steed. Have you seen the teeth on those things?" Now it is my turn to laugh.

"Escaping from Valentine; no biggie. Riding a horse; too dangerous?" I ask her. "Exactly." she replies.

Just then, someone knocks on the door. "Um, Jace?" It's Alec. "Yeah, man. What's up?" I yell at the door.

Alec sounds unsure when he says, "I could hear that you two are up now, and I was going to tell you that Luke should be here soon. I sent for him last night to let him know Clary was here and safe."

"Okay. Thanks for telling us." I tell him.

The last thing I want to do is to leave this bed but I seriously doubt that Clary's father (for all intensive purposes) would be pleased to find us together in bed naked. I look down and pull her up for a long kiss before I slide off the bed and find my pants. I look over to Clary and see her smiling a euphoric smile at me while she pull on her panties and bra. "What is it?" I ask her. She walks over to me and puts her arms around my neck and says, "You are just so damn beautiful, and sexy, and muscular, and sexy."

"You said sexy twice." I notify her.

"Well it bears repeating." and she kisses me. Things begin to take a turn when the kissing becomes deeper and more frantic; our hands rubbing up and down each other's bodies...

A loud and deep knocking comes from the door again and this time it is Izzy. "Peel yourselves off of each other for two seconds and put some clothes on then come downstairs. Clary has some explaining to do!"

She groans and pulls away from me and walks away and puts the rest of her clothes on. I see that her shirt is torn and tell her to grab one of Izzy's from the drawer over there. We are in her room after all. I couldn't exactly take her to the room I share with Alec. She throws on a shirt and grabs my hand and pulls me towards the door. She turns and gives me one last lingering kiss before we walk out into the hall hand in hand.

-Clary

I am practically bouncing down the stairs. All I know is that I am away from Valentine and my brother and Jace is holding my hand. We hit the bottom of the stairs and I see familiar faces. Izzy runs over to me and throws her arms around me. "I am so glad that you are okay, Clary. And so glad that you aren't Jace's sister. The pent up sexual tension between you two was like waiting for a nuclear bomb to go off." I pull back and smile at her. "I am glad too." I tell her.

"Oh. We ALL know how glad you are." she says slowly with a smirk on her face. I can feel the heat in my face as I ferociously blush and chance a look at Jace. He is looking back at me and smiling with color on his cheeks.

"Oh my angel!" Alec cuts in. "Jace is blushing! I never, in a million years, would have thought I would ever live long enough to see you blush."

Jace speaks up then in a stern voice. "Alright, alright. That is enough about our sex life." I make a mental note that that is the first time someone can say that about me and blush some more. 'Get a grip' I tell myself.

Jace surveys the room and asks, "Where's Max and Aline." Hearing him say her name makes me purse my lips.

"Aline's cousin, Sebastian and Max hit it off and are like best friends now." Izzy tells him. "They all went to go get ice cream or something like that."

Alec then looks at me and tells me to sit on the couch and start talking. Jace leads me to an over sized chair and pulls me down with him. The size of the chair is just big enough for us to both fit but be completely pushed up against one another. I look around at everyone and see that they are expecting me to start talking. "Can't I just wait till Luke gets here so I don't have to tell the same story over and over again?" I ask. All three of them say "No" at the exact same time and I break out laughing. Knocking at the front door interrupts my laughter and Alec disappears around the corner. My laughing is just dying down when Luke comes into the room.

His eyes are blown wide and he looks frantic when he says "Clary!" His eyes narrow in confusion as he sees me sitting with Jace. I jump up and run into his arms and it is like I am 8 again. He crushes me into him while I bury my face in his familiar ugly flannel shirt. He pulls back and grabs the tops of my arms and bends down to make eye contact with me. "Did he hurt you?" he asks me.

"Not really." I answer him.

"What does 'not really' mean? he asks me again.

I sigh heavily and tell him to sit down so I can start from the beginning. I go back to my spot next to Jace and sit comfortably while he grabs my hand. Luke looks at us and furrows his brows in a questioning fashion.

"Just let me start from the beginning." I tell him. I have to condense it otherwise we will be here all day.

"I woke up in strange room still choking on the river water. Valentine was there in the room with me and told me that I was 'too valuable' for him to just let me go. He tells me to shower and be ready to go because he has things to do. After I shower, he takes me into his office and introduces me to Jonathan. My brother." I look around the room to gauge the reactions. Izzy and Alec are surprised, but look nothing like Luke's dumbfounded face.

"But, isn't Jace your brother?" he asks me.

"No. He took Jace when he was a baby and named both boys the same thing and kept them from each other. Jace is not biologically my brother." I can't help but smile a huge smile and turn to look at Jace. He is smiling warmly back at me.

Luke seems to catch up and points between the both of us. "You two are together?"

"Boy are they EVER." Izzy says with huge smirk on her face. Luke turns and looks at her while his own eyes widen ever so slightly at the way she said that. I glare daggers at her. She grins over at me and I mouth "Traitor" to her. She will pay dearly for this.

I launch into the rest of the story. Jace and Luke tense sharply when I mention Valentine hitting me. I tell them about the apartment and the runes they got me to make. Jace looks like he is going to be sick when I tell him about the Spy rune and they all look insanely impressed when I tell them about the Portal rune. I tell them all about Jonathan, leaving out the parts where he gives me the creeps and makes me think he wants me as more than just a sister. I can barely even think about it myself without having a panic attack. When I am done, I look around at all of their faces which are varying masks of emotions. Izzy looks impressed. Alec looks concerned. Luke looks relieved to have it over. And Jace just looks furious. I am sure he is thinking of ways he can kill both of them. I wait for someone to say something, but no one does. I eventually break the silence.

"So, when are we going to go break Simon out of jail?"

Alec leans forward and looks at me sharply. "How did you know about Simon?" he asks me.

"The Spy rune, of course."

Luke speaks up now. "Will the Spy rune work on Valentine?" I shrug my shoulders as I tell him "I don't know. I haven't tried."

Jace hands me his stele and tells me to try. I slide forward and place the tip of the stele on the coffee table in the middle of the room. Everyone moves quickly to take a place around me to watch. I take a deep breath and draw the rune. The shimmering metal forms on the table and I here an intake of breath from Alec. "Show me Valentine." I tell it.

It starts to take shape and I can see the top of Valentine's head before it closes shut. "Try it again." Izzy says. I try again and the same thing happens. "Dammit!" Luke says.

"Try Jonathan." Jace says to me. I instantly tense at the thought of seeing him again. Jace notices and places a hand on my back and ask me if everything is okay. I don't trust my voice not to betray me so I just nod. I put the tip of the stele down to the table and see that my hand is shaking. I start to draw hoping no one saw the shaking and the same thing happens with Jonathan that happened with Valentine. It starts to form, then it immediately snaps back. 'Well great', I think to myself. I have just helped my psycho father gain an even bigger upper hand than he had before by giving him the Spy rune. I feel so stupid.

-Magnus

I can't believe that the fire message he sent me said, "Mr. Bane." Like he didn't have his tongue down my throat last week. I should know better than to get involved with a beautiful shadowhunter. Curse my weakness for dark haired blue eyed boys because that boy will be the death of me. But I just can't get that boy I can't get out of my head.

- _BUZZ_ -

Who the hell is that at this unnatural hour. I glance down at my clock to see that it is eleven in the morning. Okay maybe it's not THAT unnatural of time. I cannot allow myself to sulk in bed all day pining over that doomed relationship. I get out of bed and snap my finger. I look down at my outfit. Nope. This shirt/pant combination will not do. Snap. Snap. Snap. Ah, there we go. The bright green sequins on this shirt has always brought out my eyes. - _BUZZ_ \- "Okay, okay. I'm coming."

I swing open my door as to make a big reveal of my glorious outfit and see an older shadowhunter standing in my entry. Another down side to dating a shadowhunter is they start coming out of the woodworks and are everywhere.

"And who are you?" I ask the woman.

"I am Madeleine Bellefleur. I have come here on behalf of Jocelyn Fairchild." the silvery haired woman states matter of factly.

"Listen here." I say as I roll my eyes and breath heavily. "I have told many of your kind that I don't know how to wake her up. Now if you will excuse me..." and I begin to shut the door.

She reaches out her hand with shadowhunter speed and places it on my door to prevent me from shutting it. I look pointedly down at her hand and then back up at her slowly with an icy stare.

" _AND_ about your friend, Ragnor Fell." This catches my attention. "And about the Book of White."

Did she just say what I think she said? The Book of White? I smile my most charming smile. "Nice to meet you Madeleine. Why don't you come in and make yourself comfortable." I open my door all of the way and motion for her to come in. Why must shadowhunters beat around the bush so much? Don't they know to mention the most important things first? The Book of White then Ragnor then Jocelyn _THEN_ her name. Half of her mouth quirks up in a knowing smile and she walks in.

"Can I get you anything Ms. ..." Damn. What did she say her name was.

"Bellefluer" she says. "No. I do not plan to be here long." I motion for her to sit and she takes my favorite spot on the couch. The lighting hits me perfectly in that spot.

"You were saying..." I prompt her.

"I have been told I can trust you. That you actually care for Jocelyn and her daughter." she says. Oh God. Why must shadowhunters always want to talk about their feelings? I narrow my eyes at her because I do not like being forced to talk about my feelings but she did say The Book of White...

"I guess you could say that." I admit. "Clary is the first child I have ever watched grow up."

She shifts uncomfortably in my spot. It looks like she is having an internal debate as she thinks about my answer. I internally roll my eyes. "Yes. I do care for them. Quite dearly. I have spent much time with them over the years." This seems to ease her mind a little.

"Well," Madeleine begins, "as you may or may not know, the Fairchilds have been very close with Ragnor for a few generations. Whenever they would need anything magical done, he is who they would call." She hesitates for a moment before I say, "Go on."

"There was a rumor in Idris years ago that the Fairchilds were in possession of the Book of White. I think that Jocelyn may have traded a few spells in the Book of White for his help in her escape from Valentine. And one spell in particular to put her to sleep."

I lean forward. "You have my undivided attention Ms. Bellefluer."


	10. Chapter 10

-Alec

I needed air after everything Clary had told us. And I needed air after seeing Jace and Clary all over each other. I was jealous for two reasons. The first one was seeming to become more and more irrelevant everyday. I have been in love with my parabatai for years and seeing him with someone else was torture. I knew it was pointless because Jace was straighter than one of my arrows. The second reason was because they seemed to be so happy and in love and I wanted that. Simon had said that if he had let his longing for Clary go that he could have had what I have with Magnus. But the thing is, _I_ don't even know what I have with Magnus.

That's when I see the flicker of a paper burning in blue flame and land on the ground in front of me. I pick it up and it is addressed to me and it is in Magnus' handwriting. My heart rate suddenly picks up and my hands feel clammy. I start to unfold the paper. It reads,

Dear Mr. Lightwood,

I am informing you of an upcoming visit I have planned for later this evening. If you would please meet me at the West Gates of Allicante, I would be sincerely grateful seeing that I have business in the city and I will need a shadowhunter escort. Hopefully, this will not be too much trouble for you.

-Magnus Bane; High Warlock of Brooklyn

Magnus is coming _here_? But why? Is it to see me? Or does he really have business here? And why was his letter so formal? "Ugh!" I grunt to myself. This is exactly what I am talking about. I have no idea how he feels about me. One minute he is serious and loving and the next, he acts like he doesn't care at all. Why does all of this have to be so hard?

-Magnus

The moment my door shuts when Madeleine leaves, I move into action. I send a fire message to Alec not giving any hint of emotion away. If he won't acknowledge me and whatever our relationship is, then I won't acknowledge him. I gather a few things and make a portal. I step through to see the familiar cottage in the hills of Idris. There is smoke coming from the chimney which means Ragnor is home. I stride towards his home and reach the front door. I raise my hand to knock and the door flies open to reveal my favorite green warlock. "Hello my dear little cabbage! Or was it my sweet peapod?"

Ragnor narrows his eyes at me before he turns around and walks into his home. I take this as an invitation to come inside, so I do, and shut the door behind me. "I regret telling you that every day of my damned immortal life." I know he hates his little nicknames his lady conquests had given him, but I do love to see him squirm. He needs someone like me in his life to poke fun at him or he would turn into a holy terror.

"What brings you here, Magnus?" Ragnor says as he has moved to sit at his kitchen table. "If it is another trip you want me to accompany you on, I only have one word for you. Peru."

I pull out the chair next to him and sit. "I am actually here to talk about the Book of White." I watch as shock crosses his face for a fraction of a second and then his features changed into understanding.

"What about the Book of White?" said Ragnor as he leaned against the back of his chair.

"Does the name Jocelyn Fairchild ring a bell?" I ask him. He shifts uncomfortably in his chair. "Yes, I am very familiar with all of the Fairchilds." he answered.

"You made a potion for Jocelyn about 17 years ago that would put her into a coma-like sleep in return for a few spells from the Book of White." I state this as a fact because I can tell by the look on his face, I am right.

"Who told you all of this? The only person who knew about this was Jocelyn and me and I certainly didn't go around telling anyone."

"Jocelyn", I start out, "told one person and that one person told me so I would help Jocelyn. She wants the antidote to the potion so she can give it to her."

"And what makes you think I would know where the book is? It was in Jocelyn's protection and care." Ragnor asks me.

"Because, I know you Ragnor. You know where that book is. Jocelyn had to tell someone where it was in case something happened to her. She was the last of the Fairchilds and couldn't trust someone else with the knowledge of it's whereabouts. Except for you. She trusted you enough to come to you when she could trust no one else."

Ragnor stands up and crosses the kitchen away from me and pours himself some tea that he had been making. I can FEEL him thinking. He starts to speak with his back still to me. "I sometimes forget that under all of that glitter and hair gel, and actual intelligent warlock is there."

"I think I will take that as a compliment." I tell him.

Ragnor turns to face me now with a sort of defeated look on his face. "Yes. I do know where the Book of White is."

'I love it when I am right' I think to myself. He looks at me pointedly in the eyes then and says, "But it will do me no good to tell you where it is because not even I can get anywhere near it."

"And why can't you get anywhere near it?"

"Because it is in the home of a heavily warded shadowhunter's home. I have tried many times over the years to find it, but the misdirection wards are too strong."

I lean forward and rest my elbows on the table. "And which shadowhunter's house would you be talking about, Ragnor?" He closes his eyes and seems to be having an internal debate on whether to tell me or not. He speaks up then. "If you can help me retrieve the Book of White, Magnus, how do I know you will not betray me and take it?"

Although it is a perfectly reasonable question and one that I would ask, I am actually offended when he says that to me. "Because, Ragnor. We have known each other for over 350 years and you know by now that I am not the person who would do that." I stand up then. "And I am willing to make the Unbreakable Promise of our kind. And if I break an Unbreakable Promise, I will be dragged back to hell with my father and that is somewhere I plan to never go."

"So what? We share the book?" Ragnor scoffs at me.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Ragnor." He is staring at me with intensity and I can see him coming closer to agreeing to my terms. It is quiet so long, I almost jump when he speaks again.

"It is in Wayland Manor."

I immediately start to laugh and Ragnor looks at me like I have lost my mind. "What is so damn funny to you, Magnus?"

I take a deep breath to calm myself so I can speak. "I am laughing because I happen to know someone who knows exactly how to get into that house with no problems. The whole thing should be a piece of cake."

-Clary

I am so glad to be done with everyone's questions. I was dreading going to the Clave and telling them everything, but Jace suggested that we wait till tomorrow to do it and everyone agreed. I just want to have a day with my family and friends before the silent brothers start picking my brain apart. I need a breather. I also wanted a day to plan Simon's escape, which was going to be tricky. Jace had fully explained what happened and what the Inquisitor is trying to get him to stay. To say that I was angry was an understatement. The Inquisitor should be punished for what he is doing and I will make sure that he is.

Now Jace, Luke, and Izzy are swapping demon killing stories while I sit comfortably snuggled up to Jace. We have been in constant contact with one another. We are holding hands, or Jace has an arm slung over my shoulder or wrapped around my waist, or I am tracing circles on his leg. I don't think we can bear _not_ to be touching one another. It was forbidden for so long and it was like slow, slow torture not being able to touch him. And now we couldn't be separated. But this did create a problem. Luke could _not_ stop watching us. This one time when I leaned in for a kiss from Jace while we were on the couch, we locked lips and Jace slowly trailed his hand up my leg and I slid my hand under his sleeve to touch his back. When we pulled away from each other, Luke had this look on his face that was a mixture of shock, horror, and worry. I don't know if it was because he thought we were brother and sister this morning or if it was because we seemed so comfortable and loving towards each other. He is basically my father and he is probably worried Jace will de-flower me. I wonder what he would say if I told him he was already too late? Better not chance it, though.

Footsteps and laughter break into my train of thought and I look up to see Aline and Max walking into the room. Max looks like he is high off of sugar. His eyes are blown wide and he can't seem to stand still. Izzy notices the crazed look in her little brother's eyes and looks up to Aline. "What on earth did you and Sebastian do to my little brother?" she says.

Aline holds up her hands, palms out, and says, "Don't look at me. It was all Sebastian. He bought him enough candy to feed an orphanage."

Max smiles hugely and chimes in with, "And I ate every single piece and I didn't even get sick!"

"Speaking of Sebastian. Where is he?" Izzy asks.

"He said he wanted to go visit a friend that lived around the corner." Aline offers. She then looks over to me and Jace and I lean into him a little more and place my hand on his inner thigh just to prove my earlier point that he is mine. She gives me a sheepish smile and takes a deep breath before she says, "Clary? Can I talk to you for just a sec?"

I instantly turn and look at Jace and he looks at me like he thinks this is a horrible idea. I turn back to look at her and say, "Sure." Turning towards Jace, I see him give me a panicked look just before I give him a quick but sensual kiss and jump up to go talk to Aline. She pulls me around the corner and into another room and then turns to face me. She actually looked nervous.

"Listen, Clary. I just wanted to say that I am the one that kissed Jace and not the other way around." she starts saying. "I could tell that he wasn't into me but I figured that if I was going to be into any boy, it would be Jace. I had no idea what was going on between you two. And when Izzy explained what happened between you and Jace, I felt pretty bad for practically throwing myself at him while he was being tortured because he thought he was in love with his sister."

I immediately feel bad. I mean, who wouldn't throw themselves at my boyfriend. (I do an internal happy dance every time I say that he is my boyfriend and not brother) He is the sexiest man alive. "It's okay, Aline. How could you have known?" I tell her. "I guess I kind of overreacted."

We both look at each other then and give a small laugh. "Not in a million years would I have guessed what was going on with you and Jace." Aline says with a smile on her face. I laugh then at the absurdity of it all and stick out my hand in a peace offering.

"I don't think we have been officially introduced. I'm Clary." She smiles a warm smile and takes my hand. "And my name is Aline. It's nice to finally meet you, Clary. I have heard SO much about you. I mean, Jace never shut up about you." And we start giggling. Just then I see something move out of the corner of my eye and turn to find Jace standing in the doorway. His eyes widen while his eyebrows scrunch together before he says, "I came to check and make sure you two weren't killing each other and I find you both giggling like little girls. I don't know if I should be glad or horribly terrified." Aline and I both lose it then. If feels so good to laugh after so much fear for the future and pretending over the past week. I look at Jace and he is backing away slowly looking wholly horrified and like he is afraid to move too quickly for fear of scaring a wild and dangerous animal. I decide I have had enough fun at Jace's expense and walk over to him and give him a quick peck on his confused face and pull him back to everyone else.

We all sit and talk a while. Izzy, Jace, and I sit around the coffee table and tell Aline about New York because she has always wanted to go. Max has monopolized Luke and is asking him about what it is like to be a werewolf. As it is starting to get dark, Luke stands up and stretches and looks towards me.

"Well kids." Luke says. "I think it is time for us to go. My sister has probably already made us dinner by now." I look up at him confused and say "ALL of us?" He gives me a humorless smile and replies, "No Clary. Just me and you." Awful dawning horrible realization sets in. "But I don't want to go, Luke. I am staying here." I say in my most whiny teenage voice.

He instantly begins to shake his head. "You want me to leave you here, unsupervised, with your boyfriend overnight? Your mother would kill me ten different ways if she ever found out that I let you do that." I turn back to Jace to look for backup and find none. "It's okay. I can come back with you and stay till it's time to go to bed." Jace tells me. I glare at him because there is no way I can argue with Luke and win when Jace agreed with him. Luke smells defeat then, and smiles a victorious smile. Jace and I stand up to leave when Alec comes in the house with Magnus trailing behind him.

"Magnus?!" I almost shout at him. "Biscuit!" he replies and I go and give him a hug. Jace looks surprised but manages to ask him what he is doing here. Magnus holds up a finger and looks at me to say, "I was so glad when Alec told me you had escaped and were back. I have been so worried about you. And when none of my tracking spells didn't work...You don't want to know what I thought then."

"Well, here I am." I say matter of factly.

"And I am glad that you are because I need to talk to you and Jace, pronto. Alone." Magnus says in a serious voice. I look to Alec in question and he shrugs his shoulders. I then turn to look at Luke, and although he looks hesitant, he gives a slight nod. Aline steps forward then and tells us to follow her where she leads us to an office and closes the doors behind her as she leaves.

Jace turns to face Magnus then. "Okay, Magnus, what is with all this cloak and dagger stuff?" Magnus walks around the desk in the office and sits in the chair and props his feet up as he leans back. He looks at me before he says, "I know how to wake your mother up."

"You what?!" I almost yell at him.

"I got a visit from one of your mom's old friends and she told me a story that led me to another friend and that friend led me to here." He tells us this as he is inspecting his nails and picking invisible things off of them.

I look to him with a confused look on my face when he blows out an exasperated breath. "It a long story." Magnus says with a wave of his hand. "I will explain it later, but right now, I need the both of you to do me a favor."

Jace steps forward and asks him "What does any of this have to do with me? I get that Clary would want to know, but I still don't understand why this has to be a secret and why you would need me for anything."

Magnus kicks his legs off of the desk then and stands up to walk over to where we are standing. "The potion that your mother took came from a very powerful spell book called The Book of White. And inside that book is the antidote and I know where it is but do not have the means to get it." He turns and pointedly looks at Jace. "And that is where you come in, Jace."

"Me?" He says in a shocked voice. "I don't know anything about this white book." Magnus makes a show of rolling his cat eyes before replying, "You have seen it a million times, Jace, and never knew what it was."

I speak up then. "Okay Magnus. Now that I am thoroughly confused, would you stop being so cryptic and tell us _what the hell you are talking about_?"

Magnus huffs and says, "You mortals have no patience." His head swivels to look at Jace. "Jocelyn hid the Book of White inside another book at Wayland manor where you grew up. I can't get there because there are misdirection wards to specifically to keep downworlders out. Hence the two of you are needed to collect the book so I can give Jocelyn the antidote. "

"And we are just supposed to hand over this, in your words, very powerful spell book when we get it?" Jace asks suspiciously.

"Well I never said I would heal Jocelyn for nothing, now did I?" and Magnus smiles a beautiful smile.

I quickly turn to Jace and begin to plead with him. "Jace, we have to do it. My mom can't be under that spell for the rest of my life. It wouldn't be fair not to help her if we could." He looks back at me with concern and pity in his eyes. "Please Jace. We have to. It's my mother we are talking about." I grab his hand and hold it tightly pleading with him.

He finally breaks. "Fine. We'll do it. But I had better not regret this, Magnus." Jace says warningly.

The smile that Magnus gives back is so big, he almost looks like the Joker from Batman. "Oh, you won't." Magnus then moves to the wall and says "Give me just a few minutes to set up a portal."

Now it is my turn to smile wickedly at Magnus. "There's no need for that Magnus." I turn and hold out my hand to Jace. "Babe. Could you hand me your stele?"

He reaches into his pocket and hands it to me while he says, "I have been waiting to see this." with a huge smile on his face. Magnus looks at me with a curious look on his face before asking, "Waiting to see what?"

Jace looks incredibly smug when he says, "Just watch and see how amazing my girlfriend is."

 **Fair warning again. The next chapter will have smut of the Clace variety.**


	11. Chapter 11

- **Jace**

I smile smugly at Magnus and say "Just watch and see how amazing my girlfriend is."

Clary walks to the wall and puts my stele to it and begins to draw a rune I have never seen before. After a moment, the familiar shimmer of a portal starts to fill the room. Clary turns and looks at me and the way she reacts when she looks at me lets me know she can see how utterly incredible I think she is.

I hear Magnus make a noise that sounds somewhere between choked laughter and disbelief. He looks back to Clary and says, "You, my little biscuit, are like a thimble full of nitroglycerin. You look completely harmless but pack one hell of a punch."

Clary looks thoroughly embarrassed and so I get up and take her hand. "Are you ready to go now?" I ask her. She looks up at me with her beautiful green eyes and stubbornly sets her chin and says, "More than ever."

I close my eyes then and picture the view from the study of the rolling hills of my childhood. It was my favorite view out of the house. You could see for miles and there was a giant rosebush that would fill with beautiful yellow roses each spring. I step forward into the portal securely holding Clary's hand and feel it pull us in. Somewhere in the swirling, Clary's hand is pulled from mine and I panic. I land in the study and turn frantically searching for Clary. "Clary!" I shout out.

"There is no need to shout." I hear her say. "I am over here." I spin around and find her lying on the floor behind the couch. I hold out my hand to help her up and she takes it. Her hair is sticking up in a few places so I reach my hand out automatically to smooth it down. When I look back at her eyes, they are blazing. She reaches her hand up and drags her fingers across the back of my neck and slides them up into my hair. I involuntarily close my eyes and lean into her. When I open my eyes she is looking up at me and biting her bottom lip and I catch on to her mood.

Clary reaches her other hand up and slides it under my shirt as she says, "I have been thinking about last night, non-stop, all day. When do you think the next time we will be in a house alone again will be?"

Even though I meant it to be firm, my voice is low and soft. "I thought we were supposed to be looking for this very powerful spell book."

She smiles up at me wickedly. 'I have created a monster' I think to myself. We have sex one time and now she is seducing me expertly. Who the hell am I kidding? You can't seduce the willing and I crash my lips against hers with pure need. I want her in this moment more than I have ever wanted anything in my life. Thinking about the sounds she made last night was the last straw. I had to make her make sounds like that again.

Before I know it, we are tearing at each other's clothing. She yanks my jacket down and off of my arms and I pull her shirt over her head. I reach down trailing kisses down her neck and onto her chest when I reach for her pants and unbutton them quicker than I thought I could and let them fall off of her waist. Her hands are on my shoulders as she squeezes and finds resistance from my muscles and a sound comes out of her mouth that is somewhere between a sigh and a moan. The sound drives me to insanity and I practically lose control. I am making this deep throaty moaning noise and I have no idea where it is coming from. I finish undressing her in an instant. I pull back for just a second and see her cheeks are flushed and her lips are red and swollen from our manic kissing. Her chest is heaving up and down from her rapid breathing and she just stands there while I devour her with my eyes, looking her slowly up and down.

I close the distance in one step not being able to not touch her anymore and our mouths collide and our tongues slide against each other's. She surprises me then by jumping onto me and wrapping her perfect legs around my waist and I begin to walk then shove her against the wall where we stay for a while.

When she is done, I lift her away from the wall and carry her over to one of the couches that has a sheet draped over it while kicking off my pants from around my ankles. I throw the dust covered sheet off and sit back on the couch, pulling Clary into my lap where we stay for a while.

When I open my eyes, after all is said and done, I see her breathing heavily and then she leans forward and collapses her body against mine. We sit there for a minute while we slow our breathing. After a few minutes, she slides from my lap and moves to sit on the couch next to me. She turns and smiles at me before she says, "I don't know if I was any good, but you were unbelievable."

I look at her in surprise. How could she _not_ know how incredible she was after the sounds she elicited out of me? "Clary. I had no idea I could ever feel that good when you were in my lap. No idea. There are no words for how insanely incredible you were." I tell her this while looking purposefully into her eyes, willing her to understand how honest I was being.

Color rushes to her cheeks as she blushes. "It's just that..." She pauses for a few seconds. "I have never done this before and I wasn't sure I was doing it right."

I let out a small breathy laugh of disbelief before I respond. "Clary. What you did to me...the sounds you made come out of my mouth...I didn't know pleasure like that could exist. You are more than a natural at this. It was like you were inside of my brain and you knew to do things, glorious things, that made me feel so good, I..." I couldn't find the words to explain it. I shake my head in disbelief. "You have managed to render me, Jace, speechless."

She smiles shyly and then tells me "Well if I had known that was all it would take, I would have jumped on you the first time I saw you at Pandemonium. It drove me _nuts_ when you kept calling me 'little girl.' " She laughs then recalling the night I started my life.

"And then I would have become your slave. With what you did, I would have done _anything_ to be with you again."

"Really?" Clary says still unsure of herself. I look into her eyes and say, " _REALLY_ , really." I sit up then and lean into her for a kiss.

When I lean back, I survey the room, remembering my childhood. I look over at her and smile my half smile before I tell her, "You know, the music room used to be my favorite room in the house, but I think I will have to change it to this one." and I wag my eyebrows up and down at her.

She breaks out laughing while I start to stand up. "What brought all that on anyway? You practically raped me." I say in mock horror. I watch her smile start to slip ever so slowly. Her response makes me angry, sad, and happy all at the same time. "I have lived not knowing if I would ever see you again. Not knowing if Valentine or my brother would grow tired of me and lock me in chains or kill me when they decided I had outlived my usefulness." She pauses then looking like she is struggling to find the right words. "I don't ever want to look back and think 'I should have done that' or 'I wish I would have kissed you' or 'I missed the opportunity to show you how I feel'. I am determined to live with no regrets because I realize life is fleeting and I want to live the rest of it letting you know that you are the best part of me."

In that moment is when I know that I will never ever, be able to live without her ever again. There will never be a day where I do not spend it with her. The love I have for her is what feeds my soul. Without it, I would shrivel up and die.

"I love you, Clary. No. That doesn't explain it well enough. I wish there was a word that described the vastness of the universe that would be able to describe what I feel for you. In every single part of every world of every dimension and in all of the universes of all of those dimensions; that is how far the love I feel for you stretches."

I look back at her to see a tear slip out of her eyes. "Clary? What's the matter?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all. I just didn't think anyone could be as happy as I am, right now, in this moment." she says through a small sniffle.

"Well you are wrong because _I_ am happier." I tell her, then pull her in for a kiss.

- **Simon**

'Okay, Simon, lets go over this again', I tell myself. Izzy came by and said that when I get out of here, she will give me a personal tour of Allicante. That gives me more questions than I have ever had. Does that mean that they plan on breaking me out or are they going to tell someone what the Inquisitor is doing? And if they do tell someone, will that said someone even care? And will I even be able to stay in Allicante with Clary and the rest of them? AND was that Izzy asking me out on a date or was she just being nice? "What does all of this mean?!" I yell loudly in frustration before I sink down on my stone floor. And here I thought my junior year of high school would be uneventful.

"I don't know what it all means because I don't know what you are talking about." says a voice from the cell next to mine.

"Oh, sorry man. I didn't mean to say that out loud." I apologize. There is a long pause.

"You have a lot of important friends coming by to visit you. The Lightwood girl at least seems to like you." he tells me.

"How did you know who she is?" Who is this guy talking to me and why does he care who comes and sees me?

"Well I um...she looks just like her mother who I knew from my childhood. They are strikingly similar."

"Oh." is all I manage to say. His voice is rough when he says "Maryse has probably forgotten all about me by now. I am no longer a shadowhunter. I was bitten by a werewolf."

This almost surprises me until I think of Luke. "Oh, well. It's not the end of the world. Just a few weeks ago I was a real boy." I say 'real boy' in my best Pinocchio impression. "And when I got turned, I thought my life was over. But in truth, this isn't even close to one of the lives I will lead being immortal now." I don't like to think about eternity stretching out in front of me. Thinking about it makes me sick physically, emotionally, and mentally.

"You have no idea what I have endured in my life, boy, so do not tell me what is the end of my world or isn't." My cellmate sounds angry. "I have thought many times that my life was over only to be proven cruelly wrong time and time again. And now I find myself in the city that I longed to see again, only to see it through the bars of a cell."

Maybe I shouldn't have said what I did. I really didn't know what he had suffered through. "How long have you been here?" I ask him.

There was a long pause before he responded. "Long enough."

"My name is Simon. What is yours?" I ask him in an attempt to lighten the mood. It was already horrible enough down here without all of this talk of the length of our prison terms and our sucky lives."Does it matter what my name is, Simon?" he states without emotion.

"It always matters. When they have stripped everything else away from us, all we have left is who we are. That is something that no one can take away."

I hear him laugh without humor. "Go ahead and believe that they can't take that away from you if that is what comforts you at night in your cell."

Well this conversation took a turn down a dark alley and then was raped by burly, hairy men. I don't know what to say, so I say nothing and lay down.

"Samuel." I hear him say quietly. "My name is Samuel."

"Nice to meet you Samuel." And then it is quiet.

- **Jonathan**

I walk into the Penhallow house because I know Clary has left. I don't want her to see me just yet. She left with golden boy and I saw her fucking him in some unfamiliar room with the Spy rune. I had to take my anger out on something. I just hope they don't find the body of that older shadowhunter man until the morning or that might complicate things. She should be fucking _me_! She is mine and she will be screaming my name in ecstasy soon enough whether she knows it or not. I take a few deep breaths and count back from ten before I step into the den to calm my thoughts.

"Sebastian!" Max yells and comes running. Is there anything more annoying that children and the incessant noise they make?

"What's up Max?! Have you come down off of your sugar high yet?"

"Yeah, I think I have." he says.

"Well good," I start to say, "because I brought a whole other bag for you so you could regain the high." I pull out the bag of candy that I am hiding behind my back and dangle it in the air above his head.

" _Yes_! You are so awesome Sebastian!" Max says excitedly.

I know Jace is his favorite and I want to take everything that loves Jace and turn it against him. That will be the first step of his punishment for touching what is mine. "And who is your favorite shadowhunter, Max?" I ask the stupid little brat.

"You are, Sebastian!" I lower the candy to him and ruffle his hair before I offer my hand in a high five. He runs off to the corner of the room and greedily opens the bag. How fickle children are that their love can be bought with a bag of candy. I look up to find Isabelle Lightwood looking at me with her arms crossed.

"Now he won't eat his dinner, Sebastian." She says in an annoyed voice.

"Yeah, but look at how happy he is." We both look at him then and see that he is smiling through a mouth full of candy back at Isabelle. She smiles at him and she lets out a small giggle.

"Okay." Isabelle say defeated. "But I am ratting you out to my parents when they get back from the Council meeting."

I smile my most charming smile at her and I see her visibly sigh. I know I am incredibly good looking even if I had to dye my hair black like the real Sebastian Verlac. I wonder what she would be like in bed...

"Fine by me." I tell her holding my hands out, palms up. "Parents never did scare me too much. I might be what you call a rebel without a cause."

She gives me a half of a smile before turning and flipping her hair and walking away in an attempt to get me to hit on her, I am sure of it. So I take the bait. Why not have a little fun? I catch up to her in no time and step in front of her and lean against the wall blocking her path. I know the shirt I am wearing shows off my muscles to my advantage so I flex my upper body as I lean in and whisper in my most seductive voice "And what do you want to do, Isabelle? You know, before your parents get back?" She takes a deep breath as she sees me flex and involuntarily licks her lips.

And that is when my 'cousin' Aline walks in and snaps Isabelle back to reality. She shakes her head slightly and steps away. "You should really put a leash on your cousin, Aline. He was actually trying to seduce me." Isabelle says flippantly.

I smile a knowing smile as I look back at Isabelle when I say "And it was working."

Isabelle then gives me a look that says she is ready to kill me or rip my clothes off. Either way, I would love to see her try either of those. It would certainly make having to be here less of a chore. At this point, I am just waiting for Clary to come back. I wonder what her reaction will be when she sees me here. Will it be happiness? Will it be fear? I hope it will be such a shock that she freezes in fear like she did when Father was about to hit her. I would love to be the one that causes her to look like that. I am growing hard just thinking about it.

"Hello? Earth to Sebastian." I look over at Aline and she is obviously annoyed. She had been saying something to me while I was reveling in my own thoughts. What was it she said...

"I don't know. How about we just make a salad with the chicken in the fridge for dinner. You could cut up the chicken and cook it while I make the salad." I tell her remembering she was talking about dinner.

"Sounds good enough." Aline replies and walks to the fridge.

I should probably have one last meal before the demons come. It might be a while before I get a chance to eat again. I look over at the clock on the stove and see that it is only about an hour and a half before the containers that hold my blood explode and bring down their useless wards. I smile to myself and grab the lettuce after Aline grabs the chicken knowing that her life will most likely be ending soon.


	12. Chapter 12

- **Clary**

"Jace. Where's my underwear?" I ask him as we are getting dressed after our complete lapse in self control. He looks at me and raises one eyebrow knowingly and then I remember. He ripped them off.

I can feel the blood rush to my face. "Oh. Yeah. I really liked those. Did you really have to rip them off of me?"

Jace pretends to think about it for a minute. "In that moment, it was absolutely necessary." He grabs my by my still 'in the buff' waist even though he is fully dressed, and pulls me in for a long hot kiss. When he lets me go, I am nearly panting.

"You have got to stop touching me, Jace, or we will never leave this room."

He smiles my favorite wicked smile as he says "Alright, alright. I will be a good boy... after I do this." He kisses me softly on the lips then moves to my jaw, skimming his lips lightly as he moves from one spot to the next. He moves down my neck and I crane it to give him easier access. His fingers are brushing down my arms, barely touching me, giving me goose bumps. I stand there frozen, unable to move as my breathing hitches...and he pulls away and takes two steps back. I open my eyes and look at him and he is smiling, clearly pleased with himself that he was able to turn me into mush while barely touching me. I narrow my eyes at him and step away before I pick up a trinket off of some shelf and throw it at him in frustration. Of course he catches it.

"Okay," I tell him, "now that you have had your fun, you want to help me find my clothes? I can't find anything and you are completely dressed."

"What?" He scrunches his eyebrows together and puts on his "innocent" face before he continues. "Are you talking about these?" He reaches down behind the cushion on the couch we were on and pulls out all of my clothes and smiles his sexy half smile.

"You butthole!" I tell him.

"Did you just call me a butthole? I thought only five year olds used that kind of language." He laughs and then tosses me my clothes. "Now put those on and stop trying to seduce me with your nakedness."

When I am done getting fully dressed, sans panties, he starts to lead me towards the library. His serious face is back on and we are back on task. We find the library just a few doors down and Jace walks in and sets his witchlight down on some sort of witchlight magnifier on one of the small tables. The whole room blazes up with light. He looks around and I can see his eyes flooding with memories. He looks down to me and points at a window seat. "That was my favorite place to read. Father, I mean Valentine," he looked upset when he called him father, "would assign me a book for the day and I would curl up under the window, letting the sun warm me while I read." His eyes are far off and away, as he is taken back a decade to a simpler time in his life when he was sure of who he was. He comes back to reality and his face falls ever so slightly. "I think the cookbook Magnus was talking about is over here. I remember seeing it a thousand times when I was a child."

He bends down and stands back up with a cookbook in his hand. Jace reads the title out loud. "Simple Recipes for the Housewife. No wonder Valentine never found it. He said cooking was a mother's job and he couldn't be bothered with it. I guess that is why we always had a cook. If he had only not been such a sexist pig, he would have found this years ago." He had opened the book and was now lifting the Book of White from the inside.

I smile and take the one step to him and take the book. I open the pages, but I can't make sense of anything. Jace says that it is some kind of ancient Greek language that has been dead for a thousand years.

"I can't believe we have it." I tell him. "We can actually wake my mom up now." When I look back up at Jace, I can see that I have lost him again. He is trailing his fingers along a row of books on the top shelf.

When Jace speaks, his voice is soft and low. "Fath-Valentine never let me even so much as touch these. Once, I took one down out of curiosity, and started to read it. I was surprised when I saw my name written in it. He had written about my progress and how I still was unconvincing as a caring person." He scoffs then. "Now I wonder who he was talking about. Me or the real Jonathan."

"Wait." I tell Jace. I start to remember a conversation between Valentine and Jonathan. _"Had I known she would have such an effect on you, I would have collected her sooner. Maybe you wouldn't have needed all of that social training._ " That's what Valentine had said to Jonathan about me. That Jonathan needed social training.

"It wasn't you that Valentine was talking about." I tell Jace. "When I was in the apartment with them, I overheard them talking. Valentine said something about Jonathan needing social training. I had no idea at the time what he was talking about. Hell, maybe I still don't. But these journals might be helpful."

Jace had been listening intently. "We should grab them and take them with us."

"But there are too many to carry." I look back up at the shelf and there must have been thirty of them. "How are we going to get them back?"

"I am going to go get a pillow case and we can put them in it." Jace starts to walk away. "The guest room is just a few doors down. I will be right back." And he is gone. I take another look around and see the window seat where Jace said he would read. For some reason, I can't picture him as a little boy. Jace comes back into the library then and start grabbing the journals. I walk to the other end and start from there. When Jace is reaching up for the third time, his head jerks up and looks to the book case where a whirling and clicking noise is coming from. Just as I am about to ask what that noise is, one of the shelves pops out and swings open to reveal a dark staircase the leads down. I look to Jace thinking 'why didn't he tell me about the cool secret agent basement' when I catch his expression. He looked utterly surprised as if he had never seen that before.

"Jace?"

He pulls his eyebrows together and says, "I never knew there was a cellar." He grabs his witchlight from the magnifier thing and walks to the stairs and tests them. When they seem to be able to hold his weight he turns around and tells me to "stay here" and I respond with something that sounds like "Like bell I ham." and I follow him down.

When we reach the bottom and place our feet on the ground, it sounds like we are stepping on sticks and there is a snapping sound that makes me think that I am right. Jace's witchlight blazes brighter and he holds it high. The rooms fills up with light and we both look down to see what is making the snapping sound. And it is definitely _not_ sticks. It actually looks like...

"Jace? Are those bones?" I ask him praying that he will say no.

"Yes." Jace says in an extremely serious voice. I look up at him to see that he has gone into full shadowhunter mode. He already has a seraph blade out and whispers "Ithuriel" and it blazes up lighting the room up even more. His hand that is holding the witchlight stretches towards me and I take the light from him. I am assuming he wants to have his hand free in case he had to fight. We take a few steps further into the room and notice that there are cages and chains with handcuffs and some broken pieces of what looks like lab equipment. But one corner is different. There is a something similar to a shower curtain covering one of the corners of the room and I think I can see something behind it.

"Jace." I whisper and point to the curtain. "Do you see?" He gives a sharp nod and soundlessly moves to the curtain and gives it a quick pull. When it falls, at first I see what looks like a statue of a man hunched down on the floor. Then I realize that the statue is moving. He turns his head to me and I notice that his hair is similar to Jace's. And that is when I see what I thought was a blanket wrapped around him ruffle and then begin to stretch out. I am completely frozen at this point with the shock of it all because I realize he is an angel. A real, living, breathing angel. I tear my eyes away from the angel and glance up at Jace to see that he has lowered his blade and it is hanging from his hand loosely at his side. His face is a mask of shock, horror, pity, and anger. He takes two purposeful steps forward and is knocked back by something. Something on the floor catches my eyes then and I look down at the floor to see that runes are etched into the ground. Runes of binding and holding. I look back up into the angels golden eyes and he opens his mouth as if to say something, but I am overtaken by a vision.

I am taken back and I see a younger version of Valentine. He is lording over an angel and asking him why the angel left us bare before the demon's spawn known as downworlders. How they had all these powers and shadowhunters had been given none. He slid a sword across the angel's arm and golden liquid poured from the wound. Valentine looked up at the angel and said, "Your blood will serve me and mine better than it will serve you." Then the vision changed. I saw Valentine standing in the middle of a field and there is something in front of him. Some sort of pentagram. And inside of that pentagram is someone. No. Not someone. Something that is speaking to Valentine in a feminine voice. "My blood will make the child more powerful than all that have lived before him." As this woman thing is speaking, she reaches her arm out and cuts open her wrist. Her blood starts to pour from it and into a cup Valentine is holding. "He will exceed even the power of all of the Greater Demons and be more powerful than even the asmodei. But I must warn you. My blood will burn out all of his humanity and make him more like me than like you, shadowhunter." The vision then suddenly shifts and I see a rune. I don't know what it means. It looks like a sword with wings... and the vision snaps back as the angel closes his mouth.

Jace and I look at each other and say "Ithuriel". I am not sure how I know his name, but I am certain that that is who we are looking at.

"Jace." I say in a nearly panicked voice. "We have to do something. We have to help him."

Jace looks down at me with a blazing certainty in his eyes. He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out his stele and stretches it out towards me. He is looking at me with such confidence and absolute trust. I take the stele from him and look back down to the runes etched into the stone floor. I place the tip of the stele to the runes and close my eyes and my hand begins to turn them into something else. From confinement to release. From binding to freeing. When I am done, I stand back and they begin to blaze up. The invisible barrier that is there begins to form visible cracks and with a loud snapping sound, it shatters into what looks like sand. I feel Jace start to walk forward to the angel and then he tosses his blade to him. The angel catches the blade and then turns it on himself. I reach out as if to move to stop him when Jace grabs my hand and pulls me back to him. I can't take my eyes off of Ithuriel to look back and glare at Jace. Ithuriel raises the blade until it is perfectly positioned over his heart and gives what looks to be a small smile before he closes his eyes and plunges the blade in. That is when I can't look anymore and turn to Jace and bury my face in his chest. His arms come around me and he murmurs that everything is alright when the ground starts to move under our feet.

I instantly look up to Jace and then to the corner where Ithuriel was no longer, and ask him with my eyes what is going on. He grabs my hand and starts to pull me towards the stairs as cracks start to form in the walls. We run up the stairs as Jace pulls hard on my hand. I know I am slowing him down but I can't move any faster. We bolt up into the library where books are falling from their shelves and pieces of plaster are falling from the ceiling. Jace looks around frantically searching for something when he sees the pillowcase with all of Valentine's journals and lunges to grab it. Just then, a giant piece of the roof falls blocking his way and he curses at the top of his lungs. He immediately turns around and heads toward the window with me hot on his heels. Jace reaches over and grabs a bust that is sitting on a shelf and throws it through the window, shattering it to pieces. He turns and yells something to me that I can't make out because the ground shifts and makes this grating noise and almost knocks me over. The next thing I know, Jace grabs my hand and pulls me into him. He reaches down and sweeps my legs out from under me and practically throws me out of the window. I go tumbling, very ungracefully, down a hill where I land sprawled on my back about 20 feet away from the crumbling manor. I look to my left as something large lands next to me and I see that it is Jace as he throws himself on top of me and smooshes me down into the ground, covering every inch of my body with his. I hear a loud groaning and grating sound as I assume that Wayland manor is now reduced to rubble.

About 10 seconds pass of silence before Jace lifts his head up and looks down at me with worry in his eyes. "Clary? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" There is panic in his voice.

"Yeah. I am fine, Jace. I didn't get hurt at all." He lets his forehead fall against mine then and closes his eyes as he takes deep breaths to calm himself. I bring my hands up and place my hands on either side of his face and turn his head up to look at me. "Jace? What was that? What just happened?" A few seconds of silence passes between us before I continue my questions. "Was that what I think it was? Who it was?" My eyebrows are furrowed together in confusion and disbelief. I can't make what I just saw a reality.

He looks down into my eyes and says, "Valentine summoned the angel Ithuriel and held him captive for our entire lives."

He jumps up and offers me his hand. I take it and he pulls me up. "Did you see the visions?" I ask Jace. I have to know that they were real and not a figment of my imagination. He looks down at me and nods his head in reply. "What did it all mean? The demon lady, Ithuriel's blood?"

Jace takes a step back and turns away from me while running his hand through his hair. I have noticed that he does that when he is stressed, and this is definitely a stressful time. He turns back abruptly to face me and says, "The Seelie Queen said that we were Valentine's experiments. Maybe he used the angel's blood for you. He said ' _Your blood will serve me and mine better that it will serve you_ ' while he was collecting his blood." He looks into my eyes with intensity. "Maybe he gave the angel blood to your mother while she was pregnant with you and that is why you can do what you do with runes."

"I don't know about that. I have never felt especially angelic." I almost chuckle at the absurdity of it all. "And what about you, Jace? How come you can do all of these amazing physical things that no one else can do?"

He breaks eye contact with me a looks over my shoulder at the ruined house. He smiles a tiny smile that has no trace of amusement in it. "I don't know, Clary. Maybe he gave me the demon's blood."

I instantly begin to shake my head with fervor. "No. No way, Jace. The demon said that it would burn away all of his humanity and you have one of the biggest hearts I have ever known. There is no way he gave that to you."

He huffs a long breath out before he says, "Then why can I do all the things I can?" When his voice comes out it is somewhere between desperation and aggravation. I step a few steps toward him and slide my arms under his jacket and wrap my arms around his waist in an attempt to comfort him. He is stiff and tense but soon he relaxes and curls into me. His arms reach around my shoulders and his head comes to rest on top of mine. After a few minutes of just holding each other like that, after the shock of the whole ordeal has worn off, he pulls away from me and bends down to quickly kiss me and then steps away.

"We need to get back." Jace says as he grabs my hand. "Please tell me you still have my stele." I reach down to feel in my pocket and nothing is there but his witchlight that he handed me in the cellar. Then I remember holding onto his stele for dear life as Jace threw me out of the window.

"I think it slipped out of my hand sometime when I was rolling down the hill." I tell him.

"Okay, then. Do you still have my witchlight?" I nod and reach into my pocket and toss it to him. He catches it and it blazes up, lighting the destruction. "Then we need to find it so we can make a portal. Walking back will take way too long."

"Okay." I tell him and begin to search the ground. Jace is kicking over rocks and picking up pieces of wood to look under them. Ten minutes pass before I look up and tell him that it is lost and we should just start walking back. That is when I see his golden eyes light up and he takes a few purposeful steps toward a piece of what looks like stained glass. He bends over and tosses the glass to the side and stands back up with his stele in his hand. "I never give up." he says to no one in particular. "Now we just have to find a wall."

"Look, over there." I tell Jace and I point at a large section of a fireplace that is still barely standing. "I think that will work."

Jace waits for me to join him and then grabs my hand and we walk to the large stone fireplace. Eight feet of it still stands from where the rest of it broke off and is now mixed in with the rest of the manor. "Do you mind if I try and draw the rune?" Jace asks me. "What does it look like again?"

"Here," I tell him. "let me hold my hand over yours and guide you while you draw it." He nods his head in agreement before reaching up and placing the stele to the stones. I begin to help him draw the rune and it takes on its already familiar shape to me. When it is done, I pull Jace's hand away and step back. But something is off. The portal starts to coalesce for one brief moment then quickly snaps back. I look to him and offer the only explanation I can think of. "Maybe you should try it without me holding your hand. Do you remember how it goes?"

"I remember." He places the stele back against the wall and draws a perfect Portal rune and the same thing happens. It starts to form then abruptly snaps back. He turns his head and looks at me with a sort of confused yet awed expression. "I am thinking," he starts to say, "that you may be the only one that can make a portal."

"Only me?" I say in surprise. "But that doesn't make sense. All of the other runes that I have made have been able to be used by other shadowhunters. Why would this one be any different?"

Jace takes a step towards me and gives me his stele. "Because making a portal takes a lot of power. That is why only warlocks can make them. And you. Because you have your special abilities and I have mine." I know this makes sense, but still. Thinking about me having special powers is weird. I am just me. Nothing special. I can't fly and leap buildings in a single bound. I am just an ordinary teenage girl.

When I tell myself that is when I realize that I am not. I never have been thanks to my father and I don't know if that is a good thing or not. My abilities can either help or destroy depending on who has control over them. I promise myself then that I will never let anyone use me for my abilities again. I already had been once by my brother and father and I gave them the Spy rune. Who knows what kind of damage has been done with that one already.

While I was having my internal dialogue, Jace had put his hands on my shoulders and brought his eyes level with mine. "Clary? Are you okay. You look...distant."

I step away from him and move to the wall as I tell him everything is fine. It is clear that he doesn't believe me but he doesn't press the issue. I draw the portal and it opens up perfectly this time and I reach out and take Jace's hand. I close my eyes and picture the office at the Penhallows where Magnus said he would be waiting for us. I step in and let the portal whirl all thoughts out of my head.

- **Jonathan**

After we have all eaten dinner, Alec, Isabelle, Aline and Max move to the den and they arrange themselves in various seats. Max has become my shadow and I tell him to pick one of the comics he has and I will be back in a few minutes to sit and read it with him. I have already succeeded in making Max like me more which will bother Jace to no end. But for now, I excuse myself to go up to my room so I can check in on Clary. I need to rid the image of her and Jace fucking out of my mind or else I just might kill them both when I see them again.

I go inside and shut the door behind me and lock it. I walk over to a wall and draw the Spy rune and say "Show me Clary." and the shimmering metal fades away to show Clary standing outside somewhere talking to Jace. I become quiet so I can hear what they are saying.

"... _angel blood. Maybe that's why you can do what you can do with runes._ " Jace is saying to her. How did they find that out? I should have checked on her earlier. And now they are talking about demon blood.

Jace speaks looking to Clary. " _Maybe he gave me the demon's blood._ " I can't help myself and I let out a huge laugh. He thinks he could be as powerful as me?! Stupid little angel boy.

Clary is shaking her head before she says, _"No. No way, Jace. The demon said that it would burn away all of his humanity and you have one of the biggest hearts I have ever known. There is no way he gave that to you._ "

I smile at her response because I always knew she was smart. She would have to be, to be my equal. My love. My right hand. My bride. I would not settle for less. We balance each other perfectly.

I see them walk over to what looks like a large section of a broken fireplace and watch as Jace attempts to draw a portal. I am curious to see if he can do it since Father and I cannot. Maybe because Jace has more angel blood in him like Clary, he will be able to like her. I watch in satisfaction as he fails. All the more reason why Clary was made for me. She is more powerful than all others save me. I will have her back, and soon. I watch them step into the portal Clary has drawn and disappear.

I stand up and put on my best smile and head back downstairs to greet my other half upon her arrival. I wouldn't want to keep her waiting any longer than necessary. I know she must miss me terribly and I don't want her to suffer from my absence any longer than is needed.


	13. Chapter 13

**Okay. This was a hard chapter for me to write, but it had to be done. I may or may not have let a tear slip. Don't hate me too much after you read this.**

 **-Clary**

We somehow managed to not let go of each other's hand and landed back in the Penhallow's office. I, of course, fell to my knees but Jace's grip on my hand kept me from just falling flat out on my face. I looked up to find Magnus standing up from the chair behind the desk looking at us with his eyes expectant. He at least allowed me to stand up and straighten myself before launching into a flurry of questions.

"What in the hell took you two so long?" Magnus asked. "I thought you would only be gone for 30 minutes, tops. And here it has almost been 2 hours."

I thought back to Jace and I in the study at Wayland manor and I couldn't stop the blush from creeping into my face.

"Ahh. I see." Magnus said. It was clear by the look on his face that he _did_ see. "I should have known leaving two horny teenagers alone wasn't the best idea."

Jace spoke up then. "That wasn't the only reason we were late." I looked up at him and knew we were thinking about Ithuriel and a silent agreement passed between us that we shouldn't tell Magnus about it. Not yet at least.

Magnus huffed exasperatedly and said, "I do not want to hear about your sexual escapades. I just want to know if you found the Book of White?"

I could feel the book burning a hole in my jacket pocket then and said "The first thing you will do with this book is wake my mother up, correct?" I said it with certainty and with no room for him to say anything other than yes.

"I told you, biscuit, I will do as I have promised as long as you have." Magnus narrowed his eyes and looked me up and down. I knew he knew I had the book. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the book, and stretched my hand out to him. His eyes suddenly lit up and he was practically running around the desk to grab it from my hands. When he did grab it, I looked up at Jace in a questioning worry and he looked back down at me and nodded ever so slightly. I guess he believed him or else I doubt Magnus would still have the book in his hands. Magnus opened the Book of White and started flipping through the pages. "This is better than I thought." He murmured mostly to himself.

Magnus looked up at me and then told me that Luke had left after his sister showed up and said something about a werewolf showing up at her house looking for him. "He said he would be back before it got too late." he said looking pointedly at me. "And now, if you two lovebirds will excuse me, I have some important things to do."

Magnus walked over to the wall that I had drawn a portal on and began to make his own. Soon enough, he stepped into it and disappeared with Clary's only hope at waking her mother. She looked up at Jace once again and asked him if she thought he would do what she asked.

"I don't think he would go back on his word after what we just did for him." Jace replied. "At least he wouldn't if he knew what was good for him."

I raised myself up on the tip of my toes and brought our lips together as I reached my arms around his neck. His fingers slid around my waist and he grabbed my hips possessively and pulled my tiny frame into him. We stood like that for a minute, kissing each other. I needed to feel better and relax after giving the book to Magnus and kissing Jace was a sure fire way to make me feel better. Every time. When we were together, it was as if we were sharing each other's burdens and fears and wants and every other emotion there was. He made the worry I felt almost diminish and the happiness I felt at being with him intensify ten fold and I knew it was because we were one person.

He pulled away first and I groaned my disapproval to him. He chuckled a little before taking my hands that were placed on the back of his neck and pulling them down in between us.

"We should probably go tell everyone we are back." Jace said. "But I don't think we should tell them what we were doing."

"No," I agree. "Of course not. But what _do_ we tell them?"

Jace puts on his serious thinking face before saying, "We tell them that you had remembered something and we were trying to track Valentine. Tell them we portaled back to where you escaped and they weren't there anymore. They actually probably left right away knowing that you knew where they were and could lead us right to him."

I give a nod and smile. He lowers his head and gives me a peck on the lips before leading me to the door by my hand. We walk through the door and find everyone essentially where we left them. Alec and Izzy are sitting across from each other and chatting to Aline who is on the other side of Izzy and pushing her hair behind her ear.

Alec looks up and notices us first, his eyes honing in on Jace. "Where the hell did you and Clary go?" Alec stands up and looks Jace in the eye. "One second you are going to talk to Magnus, and when Luke goes to find Clary after about 30 minutes, he comes back saying that Magnus said you two had portaled somewhere." Alec turns his gaze on me then. "And let me tell you, he was not happy about it."

I instantly shrink at the thought of Luke being angry with me. I did just leave out of the blue with my boyfriend and Magnus said he had no idea where we went. "And," Alec continues. "when I go and try to talk to Magnus, he practically kicks me out of the room."

"Whoa there, Alec." Jace says holding his hands up. "Sorry we just left out of the blue, but Clary remembered something important and thought it could help track Valentine from the place where she escaped. We went there and nothing came of it." Alec seems to relax at this information.

"Yes," Alec says resigned, "but next time take your parabatai with you. I can't stand it when you take stupid risks with your life on a whim." He slumps back into his spot on the couch.

"Okay Alec." Jace says. "And we weren't exactly risking our lives. We were just seeing if Valentine could be tracked with something Clary remembered."

Jace walks over to the couch Alec is on and plops down tiredly next to him. I move to sit next to him when my stomach growls loudly. I hate it when it does that but I guess I had forgotten to eat today. Izzy looks up and laughs. "There is either a demon trying to escape from your stomach or you are just really hungry." she says and smiles at me. Aline looks up and tells me that they had made a chicken salad for dinner and there was plenty left for the two of us if we wanted any. I looked down at Jace who told me he would get some later. "It's in the fridge on the back wall. You should see it right when you walk in." Aline tells me. I offer my thanks and walk through the doorway into the kitchen. As soon as I round the corner, the noise from the other room fades away. The kitchen, although connected to the den, is quite of secluded. I see my target of the fridge and head straight for it and open it to find the delicious looking salad just waiting for me to devour it.

"The salad is pretty good, if that is what you are getting." said a deep, yet somehow familiar voice. I practically jump out of my skin because I thought I was in here alone when I hear Max's small voice start to laugh.

"You scared her pretty, good Sebastian." Max says. Oh yeah, I think to myself, Aline had mentioned something about her cousin Sebastian staying with her. I start to spin around to introduce myself and I laugh in relief because I thought for a split second that it sounded like...

"Jonathan." My voice is a choked whisper. His hair is black, but there is no mistaking that it is Jonathan. He rises up from the table against the opposite wall and starts taking slow and casual steps in my direction. Everything inside of me is yelling at me to run and scream, but I can't make myself move. The shock of seeing him here and the fear that encompassed his presence seems to have paralyzed me. I can see Max from the corner of my eye pulling his eyebrows together in confusion. He obviously is trying to figure out why I look so scared.

"Oh, how I have longed to see that face you are making right now." Jonathan says creepily. He is closing the distance and is only a few feet away. Something inside of me snaps and I jump into motion. I lunge to try and get by him, but he is, of course, too quick for me and grabs me by the waist and pulls my back into his chest and brings his other hand up to cover my mouth.

"Where do you think you are going, Clary?" He asks me in a low and angry whisper. He lowers his face to where his lips our brushing my ear. "I thought you said we were a team. That you would never leave me." His breath on my neck makes my skin prickle with a kind of fear that has nothing to do with him kidnapping me but makes me want to cover myself with my arms.

"Haven't you realized by now that we were made for each other? That we complete each other. And most of all, that you are _MINE_." His voice takes on a deadly and angry tone on the last sentence. I look over to Max who seems to realize that something very bad is happening. He is trying to sneak out of the room quietly when he bumps into a chair at the table and draws Jonathan's attention. He looks up and spots Max and I suddenly feel dark dread pooling inside of me for Max. I start to thrash trying to get Jonathan's attention to return to me with no such luck. He releases his hand from over my mouth and reaches out and swings his hand, connecting with Max's head, with unbelievable force sending the tiny boy flying across the room and slamming his head into a cabinet. He hits with such force that the cabinet door cracks into two pieces. My heart does and agonizing lurch as I see his tiny body slump to the ground and lie unmoving.

"Stupid little kid." Jonathan says with disgust low in my ear. I realize then that his hand has yet to come back to cover my mouth and I yell.

"Jace! Jace!" I scream it at the top of my lungs. Jonathan's arm comes up and the crease of his arm closes around my throat enclosing me in a choke hold. His other arm releases it's hold on my waist, Jonathan secure in knowing that I cannot escape his choke hold, and reaches around his back and comes back holding a dagger and presses it into my ribs.

Just as this is completed, Jace steps in the doorway and his eyes fly wide open as he sees some guy holding me with a dagger to my side. The movement isn't discernible to my eyes, but Jace suddenly draws a dagger from his belt and his face has melted into pure fury. I can see in his eyes that he still has no idea who Jonathan is and why he has hold of me. Jace's body tenses for a fight and he takes a step toward me and Jonathan says playfully, "Uh, uh, uh Jace. Don't come any closer. I would hate to have to pierce her pretty skin with this dagger here." As if to emphasize his point, he pushes it into my side garnering a whimper from my throat. I can feel a trickle of blood start to slide it's way down my side.

Jace halts his movement and glares with pure malice at Jonathan. Just then Alec appears behind Jace and sees what is going on and he pulls out a dagger. Izzy apparently sees that her brother has drawn a dagger and I can faintly hear her say with concern, "What is going on, Alec?"

Alec doesn't take his eyes off of me and Jonathan and replies in a steely voice, "Sebastian has Clary in a choke hold and has a dagger to her side." The next thing I hear is Aline shouting. "He is doing _what_?!"

I know I have to tell them, but his choke hold is so tight. "Jon...athan." I manage to choke out. It is barely audible, but I know Jace heard it. Jonathan tenses and tightens his hold around my neck cutting off most of my air. Jace looks confused and his eyes are darting in between me and Jonathan.

"Bad little girl, Clary." Jonathan says low in my ear. "We don't want them knowing our secret." I am pulling at his arm with every bit of strength I have because I can feel myself starting to suffocate. I look at Jace and I know my eyes are pleading with Jace to understand who he is and willing him to see that I won't be able keep conscious for much longer. Just as I am about to give up hope of making him understand, I see realization, heavy and dark, cross Jace's face.

"Jonathan?" Jace says in an unbelievably deadly voice and looks at Jonathan in renewed hatred and understanding.

Jonathan laughs a breathy laugh and says "Maybe you're not as stupid as you look. Although you seem to be oblivious to the fact that Clary is not yours. She is mine."

Jace's teeth grind together and he takes a step toward us again. At his advance, my brother digs the dagger in a little more and ever so slightly loosens his grip on my throat so Jace can hear my moan of pain. I suck in a deep breath and whimper in pain before he tightens his grip around my throat once again.

Alec is the one to speak now in a stern voice, "Let her go and we will not kill you, Sebastian."

I am not able to see with my own eyes but the look on Alec and Jace's face lets me know that Jonathan's expression has changed into something so sinister, they instinctively lean back. "Oh, how I would love to see you try." he says in a flat and deadly monotone. It gives me chills to my core to hear his voice like that.

Jace is flicking his eyes toward me in worry and I remember about Max then. I start to look pointedly at Max hoping that they notice him and help him. After a few tries, Jace chances a glance in the direction I am looking and I see his heart drop. He sees Max laying on the floor and says his name in a low and desperate cry. Jonathan takes advantage of his distraction and reaches up to bring his hands together. For a brief second, I think he is going to snap my neck but then he touches a ring on his right hand that wasn't there before and twists it... and then darkness.

 **-Jace**

"Max." I see him on the floor, unmoving and my heart falls through my feet. By the time I look back up at Clary and Jonathan, I see them disappear. I can't make my eyes believe everything that is going on. I run to the spot Clary was and I see no sign of either of them. I am spinning in circles with my hands on my head, pulling my hair in desperation. I look back to see Alec picking Max's limp body off of the floor with a look of shock and disbelief plastered on his face. I cross the room and put my hand on my little brother's neck to look for a pulse. I wait...and wait...and wait. Alec is looking at me with pure desperation, willing me to find his pulse. I can hear Isabelle sobbing in the doorway, but I can't bring myself to look at her. I slowly lower my hand and all I can do as I realize he is gone is shake my head.

The weight of it all must have been too much for Alec because he can no longer stand and falls to his knees holding our now dead little brother. Isabelle screams and runs over to Alec and pulls Max's body out of his hands.

"No. _No_. It's not too late! He is going to be fine." Isabelle says in between broken wretched sobs. It is too much for me. I turn around not being able to look anymore. How did everything go so wrong so quickly? Just a few minutes ago, I was the happiest I have ever been. And now the other part of my soul is gone and my most favorite little brother is dead. And it is all because of Jonathan. But I can't bring myself to feel anything other than despair in this moment. I turn and look back at my siblings and I feel the wetness of my tears that are now pouring down my face. I turn and look to Aline who is standing there with her hands over the bottom half of her face and I see tears glistening in her eyes.

I can't stand to be in here anymore. I have to get out of here. The next thing I know I am out front and I collapse onto the front steps and hang my head in between my legs trying to breathe. I sit there for a while just thinking about breathing in and out, willing myself to think through the pain that is crushing my heart. I have to be able to take my pain and turn it into a righteous sword that I will use to find and cut down Jonathan.

That is when I see a flash of something dark dart across the lawn. I instinctively grab my dagger again and rise to my feet as I smell the rot of garbage. But that smell usually accompanies demons and we are in Allicante. I dismiss the thought of demons almost as soon as it crosses my mind. I must be going crazy after everything that just happened. I turn to go back into the house to face my siblings when I hear someone scream a blood curdling scream. I look in the direction that it came from and see something moving in the yard where I thought I saw movement just moments before.

I take a few tentative steps toward the movement and that is when I see a Raum demon jump from the bush I was approaching and it collides with my chest. Three things cross my mind in that moment. The first is disbelief as I know that a demon in Allicante is too far out of the realm of possibility. The second is knowing that that is exactly what is happening. And the third is remembering where a killing blow with my dagger would best be. I stab the demon where its heart should be and it folds in on itself and disappears leaving a smear of black ichor on my shirt. I turn behind me when I hear steps on the stairs and throw my dagger towards the noise. I realize too late that it is Aline, but luckily, she dodges it at the last second and it flies into the wall behind her.

Aline opens her mouth to say something but never gets the chance as a winged demon grabs her by her shoulders and flies away with her screaming. 'This can't be happening' I tell myself. This is impossible. The wards should be repelling the demons. I give chase as I grab my dagger and run in the direction that the demon flew with Aline. I run down a small alley and when I reach the end, I look up to see Aline with her shirt ripped open exposing her bra and she has a short-sword in her hand and is stabbing the demon repeatedly. When it starts to disappear, I say her name and she looks up at me and then turns and runs. I think about giving chase, but my worry for Isabelle and Alec bring me back to the house. I run inside and find Izzy and Alec on the floor in front of the couch where they had laid Max's body. I look at my little brother and my heart gives another agonizing lurch at the site of him.

Alec turns his head to me and I can see his eyes are red and his face is pale. I cross the room and look down at Max. He looks like he could be sleeping. I bend down and push his hair out of his eyes and give him a kiss on his forehead as a tear from my eyes falls to his face. With great effort, I pull away from him feeling a part of me leaving my body and finding it's home in Max's dead body, and turn to look at Alec once more and force the words out of my mouth. "Alec, Isabelle. We need to go up the hill to the Accords hall. There are demons here in Allicante."

Both of my remaining siblings' eyes snap up to mine and Isabelle says, "That is not possible, Jace."

"I know it's not possible, but I just killed a Raum demon and Aline was carried away by a winged demon before she killed it." I tell them.

Alec seems to see the black ichor on the front of my shirt and stands up abruptly. "Look, Izzy. Ichor is on Jace's shirt."

Isabelle snaps at them. "I am _not_ leaving Maxy here."

I look down at her and say, "I was never going to do that."

"All of the adults are at the Guard and the protocol is to take all of the children to the Accords hall in the event of an emergency." Alec says. "I am the only adult here and we must move. That is what everyone else will be doing. We have to move and at least try and help the smaller children up the hill. We can't just _not_ help them. They are just children."

Alec looks down at Max and I and Isabelle do the same thing. "I will carry Max and you two watch my back." Izzy says.

Alec looks at me and tells me to help him gather weapons and we run up the stairs to the weapons room and load up on seraph blades and daggers and, of course, Alec's bow and arrows. We grab what gear we can find and start back down the stairs. By the time we have come back into the den, I can see that Izzy has her whip coiled around her arm and has zipped on her own gear jacket. I throw her a couple of seraph blades and then slide on the gear jacket that is in my hand. When I am done, I look to Izzy as she is picking up Max and I ask both of them, "Are you ready?" Izzy looks up at me with dead eyes and says, "I will never be ready."

I know instantly that she is talking about Max and I can feel a lump in my throat form as I choke out the next words. "Let's go." We move to the front door, sandwiching Izzy and Max in between me and Alec, and move quietly into the night as all of the Lightwood siblings make one last journey together.


	14. Chapter 14

**-Clary**

I wake up, once again, in my room in the apartment. Everything has been stripped bare. The only thing in the room is the bed, sheets, a pillow, and a new door. I walk into the bathroom and see clothes that are laid out for me. I move back to the room and I can tell that I won't just be able to open this new door whenever I want. Everything that happened came back to me then in a flood. Jonathan waiting for me in the kitchen. Jonathan hitting Max. Max slumping onto the ground in complete stillness. My heart drops to my stomach at the memory and I double over, clutching at my stomach. Then I remember seeing Jace's face when he saw his little brother lying still on the kitchen floor. It looked like he had been shattered at the site of Max. "Please let him be alright, please let him be alright." I chant lowly trying to convince myself. But when I think about how hard his little body slammed up against the cabinet and the way he went utterly still, I think I know deep down that he will not be alright. "Please be alright, Max."

I gather myself knowing that sitting here thinking about all of the bad things that have happened won't stop Valentine and my brother. I am the only one who can because I am on the 'inside' with them now. I get to my feet and walk to the door. The moment I touch it, it sends an electrical shock racing through my arm and into my chest. I jerk my hand back and yelp in pain. I definitely won't be opening this door or eavesdropping through it. I step back away from the door and move to sit on the bed. I guess now it is just a waiting game. I decide then to at least try to make the wait as unpleasant as possible for them. "Jonathan!" I yell at the top of my lungs. I know I don't have the slightest chance at Valentine coming when I call, but I know Jonathan will. He is my best chance to getting out of here; but also my worst chance at staying here. But I have to try. I can't just sit here and wait. "Jonathan!" I yell louder this time. "Jonathan!" I don't even know if someone is here. " _JONATHAN_!"

"I hear that you are awake, little sister." I can hear Jonathan on the other side of the door. "I enjoyed watching you sleep for a while. Did you know you mumble when you dream?"

I shiver runs down my spine. He was watching me. Does that mean he was touching me or did he use the Spy rune? "You were in here?" I ask him.

"For a little while." he says, his voice muffled through the door. "But I wasn't talking about just now. I was talking about when we were in the Penhallow's together. Did you happen to notice that our rooms were right next to each other?"

I an overwhelming sense of dread and disgust overwhelm me while I realize what he was implying. "You have such virginal skin, unmarked by runes all over your body. I hate when women scar up their bodies. It's better when you put the runes on your arms and legs, don't you think?"

It was worse than I thought. He saw me...naked. This morning after Jace and I... How long was he watching? I subconsciously move my arms to cover myself up. I feel so unbelievably violated; and by my own brother. I hear him laugh then, "There is no need to be ashamed or cover up. I have already seen you, more than once, and you are beautiful. You are perfect for me."

I realize with despair that he is using the Spy rune to watch me and there is nothing I can do about it. I can also hear him talking, but I can't seem to process what he is saying. "You have seen me more than once?" I say mostly to myself, but of course Jonathan could hear me. "Yes. So, like I said, there is no need to be so shy. Although," I can hear his voice grow sinister when he says this, "your body was tainted by having his hands all over you. Too bad he won't have those hands for long. Nobody gets away with touching what is mine."

My stomach clenches as what I have tried so hard to suppress comes bubbling to the surface. I try to force it back down, but it is too late. Jonathan doesn't just want to be my brother, he wants to be my lover. He wants to have me like Jace had me.

I jump up off of the bed and run to the bathroom where I try to vomit into the toilet. My body rocks with convulsions as it tries to find anything in my stomach to force out, but it has been a long time since I have eaten anything. I hear my bedroom door open and I panic. I reach out to the bathroom door and slam it shut locking it just in time to hear Jonathan try and turn the door knob.

"Clary?" I can hear him on the other side of the door. "Why are you sick? Let me in to help you." His voice is soft and pleading. I have heard this tone before and I will not fall for it again.

"Leave me alone!" I shout back at the door.

"Oh come on, Clary. Don't be like that. I don't want to restart things between us on a bad note."

"There is _nothing_ between us!" My voice is strong and commanding even though my stomach is not.

When he speaks again, I can hear the vehemence and conviction in his voice. "But there is. You said so yourself. We are a team, you and I. We were made for each other. One light and one dark. We are the perfect balance."

Oh God. I think I am going to be sick again. Hearing him talk about me, about us, like that is disturbing me down to my core. Just as I am about to try to vomit again, I hear another voice coming from the other side of the door where Jonathan is. And this voice is angry.

"Jonathan! What are you doing in here?!" It's Valentine. I _never_ thought I would be glad to hear his voice, but right now, I am.

"Please make him go away!" I shout to Valentine.

Jonathan speaks up then. "She is sick. She needs my help."

"No, I don't. Go _AWAY_!" I shout with as much venom as I can muster.

I can hear Valentine's voice is stern and commanding when he says, "I don't think she wants your help, Jonathan. You are not even supposed to be in here in the first place."

"But father." Jonathan's tone is pleading.

"Go now, Jonanthan." is Valentine's only reply.

I realize then that, once again, I had been wrong about Jonathan. He was the one who would never let me go. If I was going to garner any help, one way or another, it was going to be through my father. Jace had always talked about him with affection and said that although he was a harsh and strict man, he did show him love. Luke also said that he wasn't always this hard and unfeeling man that I see, today. I need to find a way to get him to feel affection towards me. I can hear two sets of footstep retreating away from my bathroom door.

"Valentine, wait!" I hear one set stop while the other keeps moving further away. "Please. I want to speak with you." I hear nothing and the silence drags on. I count to 22 before I hear the footsteps come back towards me.

"I am not sure I can trust you, Clarissa, to speak face to face with me." Valentine's voice is hard and skeptical.

"What am I going to do?" I ask him. "I have no weapons and barely have any training. What harm could I possibly do?"

I can hear him give a small laugh with no humor behind it. "You managed to escape from this house once with just a stele and slip out of the hands of the best shadowhunter there has ever been. I will not underestimate you again."

"Yes, but" I was drawing a blank. What could I say to convince him to speak with me? "You're right. I did do those things. Because of what you did to me before I was even born. I know about Ithuriel. I was there. I saw him and set him free."

Even though there is a door between us, I feel the shock radiating from him.

"Just have one conversation with me. Answer some of my questions. I think I deserve to know where I came from since my mother wasn't exactly forthcoming."

I have gambled with honesty instead of trying to play the innocent victim. I hope it works because I don't think that I will have another chance at getting him to talk to me like this again.

"Fine. Wash your face off and come out of the bathroom." he says resigned.

I do a small happy dance inside of my head, aware that he or Jonathan could be watching me at any given moment, and keep my face set into an unmoving mask. I quickly splash water on my face and rinse my mouth out. I grab the handle of the door and slowly open it. I see Valentine standing by my closed door with his hands grasped together behind his back. He reminds me of those movies set in the Victorian era where all of the men would walk around with their backs straight as an arrow with the their hands behind them. I look sheepishly at him hoping to portray that I am afraid of him; that I am not a threat. He looks at me and then gestures for me to sit on the bed. I have a feeling that he always likes to be the one standing and looking down at whomever he is talking to.

"Now Clarissa, what is it that you so desperately need to know. You already seem to know quite a bit."

"That is because I am not stupid. I assume that is what you thought of me before?"

Valentine's mouth quirks up at the side ever so slightly before he says, "I did. Your mother decided, before I even knew of your existence, that I didn't deserve the chance to get to know you. She raised you a mundane and mundanes tend to be completely oblivious and stupid. I should have known that with my blood running through your veins you wouldn't have been so ignorant and naive as I expected you to be."

"And the angel blood. That also runs through my veins?"

He takes a deep breath and lets it out. "Yes. That too."

"What about Jace?" I ask him. "What did you do to him? The Seelie Queen said that he was your experiment too." Valentine looks irritated when I say this.

"I only did the same thing I unknowingly did to you. That the Seelie Queen knows about that makes me quite angry."

"So Jace and I are the same? We both have extra angel blood coursing through our veins?" I ask him impatiently.

"Yes. You are correct." he answers me. So that explains it. Under all of that false bravado and all of his snarky remarks, he has the heart and blood of an angel. Not demon blood.

"But, what about the blood you collected from the demon? The lady demon. What did you..." Understanding, harsh and strong, hits me like a train. "Jonathan." I whisper mostly to myself. "That's why he says the things he says to me. Does the things he does to me. Why he wants what he wants from me." I am talking to myself but I can see Valentine shift his weight in the corner of my eye as he is listening to me.

Valentine's voice is stern and urgent when he speaks to me. "What are you talking about, Clarissa? What does Jonathan say and do?" I look back up at him with pleading in my eyes.

"Please don't leave me alone with him. _Please_ don't." I am practically begging him at this point.

"Tell me what he says, Clarissa." The tone in his voice lets me know he expects and answer this time.

I lick my dry lips and find my voice behind the lump in my throat and drop my head to look at my feet. I can't look him in the eyes while I say this. "He says that we belong together. That we are one. That I belong to him." I am wringing my hands together in my lap. "He said that he watched me...while I was...I was...naked. He told me I was beautiful." My voice is trembling by the time I can get the last few words out. When I hear no response, I chance a look up at his face. It is the first time I have seen him show me anything other than indifference and anger. There is anger in his face but it is also accompanied by disgust, worry, and understanding. He realizes I am looking at him and I watch as the mask of indifference comes back down over his face. I am suddenly hit with the image of Jace. How he wears a mask of indifference and sarcasm to keep everyone away. To keep from getting hurt. Maybe Valentine is the same way.

"Do not worry, Clarissa. You will not deal directly with him anymore." He shifts like he is going to leave but then stops. "I thought keeping my distance from you was what was best. I am sure you have heard nothing but horrible things about me and I was sure you didn't want me near you. I was just trying to make you comfortable. But I had no idea..." He sincerely looks troubled. He has put one hand up to rub his brow and the other is clenched at his side.

I start to reach my hand out to him, but immediately pull it back. I don't think he would want me to touch him. He sees this and huffs out a breath. "You are also very much like your mother." and he leaves the room by waving his hand across the door.

 **-Jace**

I glance behind me to make sure Alec and Izzy are still there. I can see Alec quickly dispatch a Iblis demon and notch his bow with another arrow. So far Alec and I have been able to take care of all of the demons while Izzy carries Max through the chaos. She hasn't said a word this whole time. We are half way to the Accords hall and we haven't seen many children who are still alive. With all of the adults at the Council meeting, there is no one to protect the children that are left behind. I don't know if Valentine planned it this way or not, but I will not let him go unpunished for this.

Izzy breaks her silence and yells for me to watch my side. I look just in time to see the Dahak demon coming for me. I step to the side and spin so I will be facing the demon with it's back turned to me. I bring the two seraph blades in either of my hands in a scissoring motion and cut off his head before he even knows what has happened.

We turn a corner and run into about 20 Vetis demons. We freeze in our tracks as they see us. There are too many of them for just me and Alec to take them on. We start to slowly back away when I hear something hit the ground behind Alec. A Vetis demon has jumped down from the top of a building and has us blocked in. A string of curses come from my mouth as I ready myself in my fighting stance.

Just as the first demon lunges forward, three werewolves come flying around the corner snarling and with their teeth bared. I freeze in confusion as I don't know if they mean to help us or attack us. The wolves seem to see my confusion and then one of them jumps at the nearest demon, sinking it's teeth into the Vetis' neck. Chaos breaks out. I successfully manage to dispatch two demons when a third takes advantage of my distraction and jumps on my back. I reach back to grab it and throw it off, but suddenly it's weight is pulled off of me. I look back to see that Izzy has laid Max at her feet and sliced the demon in half with her whip. I give her a quick nod of appreciation and continue the fight. Soon enough, we have killed all but two of them, who turned and ran away, and I turn to see that the wolves are still there with black ichor covering their muzzles.

I take a cautious step toward the one that seems to be in charge, as the other two are flanking it, and hold my hands up to show them I mean no harm. The leader starts to shudder and transforms back into their human form. I stare in shock when I realize that it is Maia who is standing in front of me. "You mean you couldn't recognize me?" Maia asks.

"Maia?" Alec asks in disbelief. "How did you get here?"

"Luke sent word out that Valentine was probably planning an attack against Allicante and got a warlock to portal the pack here." Maia answers. "And then when we got here, he had organized most of the wolf packs here in Idris and got them to agree on helping out you arrogant shadowhunters. Said that whether we hated you or not, you kept this world from being overrun with demons. Kept this place safe for us to live ..." She stops mid-sentence when she looks at Izzy. Izzy is picking Max's body back up from the ground and Maia pales about three shades.

"Is that...is that your little brother?" Maia asks Izzy with her voice soft and low.

The only thing she can manage to do is shake her head yes in response. Maia turns her head back up and looks to me and Alec. "I am so sorry, guys. I really am."

I nod and look to Alec and Izzy. They return my gaze with the same sadness I feel in my heart. "We need to keep moving." I say sternly. "We need to get to Accords hall. That is where everyone will be gathering." Maia nods and tells me to lead the way and says that her and her wolves will help us get there. I give her my thanks and start to move forward again.

We only encounter a handful or demons before we reach the steps to the Accords hall and our assumption was right. I can see the Guard burning in the distance and the hall is overflowing with people trying to find their loved ones. My heart sinks when I think about finding Maryse and Robert.

As I am looking around, I see Inquisitor Aldertree across the room and am instantly reminded of Simon. 'Oh no' I think to myself. The Guard is burning and that is where Simon is. I look back to see that Alec and Izzy have found Robert and Maryse and the look on their faces...I turn away. I reach the Inquisitor and roughly grab his shoulder and spin him in my direction. He looks stunned and very annoyed when he sees who I am. "Excuse you, young man, but who do you think you are?" Aldertree says in a condescending voice.

"The prisoners from the Guard; where are they?" I ask him.

The Inquisitor quickly breaks eye contact with me and says, "I am sure I don't know. The protocol is for the guards to take the prisoners and evacuate them hear, in a secure room. Why do you care, Jace Morgenstern?"

"That is _not_ my name!" I snap at him. "Now where are they?"

Aldertree scoffs at my demand. "I do not have to answer to children nor do I have the time or patience to be berated by Valentine Morgenstern's son."

"That man is _not my father_!" I yell through gritted teeth. Seeing that he is going to offer no help, I turn away and start marching to the exit. He has probably left the prisoners to burn to get rid of them. Him holding Simon isn't exactly in compliance with the Accords and probably figured that his problem would solve itself with the fire. I am all the way outside when I feel a hard hand on my shoulder. I turn to see that it is Alec looking sick.

"Jace, where are you going? Mom and Dad are asking for you." Alec's voice is low and his expression is confused.

"I am going to go get Simon." I tell him. "I think the Inquisitor left him in the Guard cells to burn. To get rid of him." Alec purses his lips and looks back to the doors to the hall and says, "Alright. I will come with you."


	15. Chapter 15

**-Simon**

"Hey, Samuel. When do you think they are going to come get us?" I asked him. "The Guard has been burning for a while."

"Simon, I hate to tell you this, but they are not coming for us." Samuel says in a defeated voice. "We are downworlders in prison. They wouldn't risk their lives trying to save us."

I put both of my hands on my head and pull on my hair, hard, while I am pacing in the tiny cell. "In that case, I know at least Clary will come for me. She wouldn't leave me here."

Samuel gives a small chuckle. "If she is even still alive. Have you looked out of you window and seen just how many demons there are? And you have said yourself that she isn't very well trained."

I am starting to panic and become very angry at Samuel. "Shut up! Don't say that stuff about her!" Everything goes quiet after that. The only thing I can hear is the crackling of the building above me burning to the ground. 'I wonder how bad it will hurt when I burn?' I ask myself. Then I mentally slap myself for being so dramatic. I pace some more, occasionally looking out of my barred window, when I finally realize how mad I am. These shadowhunters who praise themselves on being the guardians of the world from evil, are evil themselves. They see people like me (a vampire) and like Samuel (a werewolf) and treat us like we are less. They scoff at us and tell us we deserve to die because of something that happened to us that we had no control over.

I walk over to the bars on the window and grab them tightly, trying to ignore the searing burning feeling they give me because of the Jewish religious symbols they have carved into the metal, and pull with all my might. I hold on for precisely 5 seconds before the burning is too much and I yank my hands away. I look down at them and see that my skin is red and blistered. "Grrrrr Ugh!" I groan in frustration.

"Relax, Simon." I hear someone say. I recognize the voice but I refuse to turn around and look at him. "Your night in shining armor is back to save you." Jace says with smugness.

"Please go away. Anyone but you." I say to myself; too low for anyone to hear. I turn around and see Jace's stupid face smirking at me. I immediately want to punch him. "Where is Clary?" I ask Jace and I can see his eyes deaden a little. That sends me into a panic. "Is Clary okay? Is she hurt? Where is she!" I have crossed my cell and am only inches from the bars. I can see Alec there with an arrow knocked in his bow guarding Jace's back as I search for any sign of her red hair.

Jace gets frustrated with my frantic questions and snaps back at me. "I don't know, Simon. Her brother came and re-kidnapped her just a little while ago."

"That makes absolutely no sense, Jace. _You_ are her brother." I tell him.

Jace huffs out a little laugh and a tiny smile form on his face before he says, "I forgot that you didn't know. Did Isabelle not tell you?"

"Isabelle not tell me what?" I really don't like being in the dark.

"I am _not_ her brother. Valentine lied. Her real brother is a fucking psycho. He is the one who kidnapped her...again. So, no, I don't know if she is alright." I can see when Jace said the last part his eyes showed the panic he felt. Just as I am about to ask him another question, he says, "Listen, we don't have time to discuss everything that has happened at this moment. The Guard is burning fast." Jace leans away from the window and I see his hands stretch out and grab the bars.

"What are you doing?" I ask him in surprise. Does he actually think he can pull the bars out of f the wall?

"I am going to pull the bars out of the wall and save your ass." Jace replies. I can see his knuckles whiten as he grips the bars and pulls with all of his might. I am about to remind him that he is not the Hulk (not that he would understand that reference) when the stone begins to crack where the bars are stuck in the window. "What the..." I mumble to myself right when the bars come free. 'I can't believe he just pulled the bars out of the wall' I think to myself. I would be impressed if it were anyone but Jace, but I am just annoyed at the face _he_ was the one to do it.

Jace's face appears back at the opening and he reaches a hand out to me. "Come on, Simon." he says annoyed. "We haven't got all day."

I briefly consider staying here and burning to death before I reach out and grab his hand roughly. I have to think about how to get Clary back. Again.

I pull myself out of the small hole and turn to the window next to mine. "Come on. Help me with this one." I tell Alec and Jace.

"Help you with what?" Jace asks indignantly.

"We can't just leave him here to burn. We have to get Samuel out."

"Seriously, Simon?" Jace says, his voice going up a few octaves.

"As a heart attack." I reply.

That is when Samuel speaks up. I hear his voice is muffled and I look in to see why. He is covered in torn clothes or blankets. "Go away!" he shouts. "Leave me here!"

Jace looks really annoyed at this point. "Of course you had to make a crazy prison friend, Simon." He walks to Samuel's window and we both grab the bars and pull. With the two of us pulling, it only takes a second or two to pull the bars loose from the window. Samuel yells louder this time and sounds a bit angry. "I _SAID_ , leave me here!"

I jump down in the cell with Samuel and bend over to grab his arms to pull him up. "That is not going to happen, so why don't you just come with us willingly." I tell him. He seems to concede and gets to his feet, hiding his face. Jace and I manage to get him through the window and I hop out after him. We all start to turn and walk off when I notice Samuel just laying on the ground, not following us.

"What are you doing, Samuel. Come on." I reach down and pull on his arm and he jerks away and angrily yells, "I said leave me here!"

Alec snaps his head down at Samuel and pulls his eyebrows together in confusion. He looks back up at Jace and says "That sounds like Hodge." Samuel immediately gets even angrier and yells one more time with his face still down, "Just _go_! Leave me here!"

Jace takes a few long purposeful strides back to Samuel on the ground and grabs him by the scruff on the back of his dirty shirt and pulls him up. When he looks up, I can see just how disheveled he looks. His hair is stringy with grease for not being washed in a long time and he has a bushy beard but his eyes and the shape of his face are definitely familiar. Alec is the first one to break the silence. "Hodge?! What in the... how did you get here?" Alec is stumbling through his sentence.

Jace glares at Hodge before he says, "He's right. We should just leave him here. Traitors deserve to die."

Samuel-Hodge looks up at Alec and Jace with sad eyes and says, "I never meant to hurt you two. I just wanted the curse lifted and to come back home. You have no idea what it was like being stuck in that Institute all those years!"

Alec looks hurt when he says, "Was it really that bad being there with us? Did you hate us that much?"

"I didn't hate you, but all of you were just children. Your parents only tolerated me because they had no choice. I was alone..."

Jace cuts in angrily, silencing Hodge. "That's enough! I am tired of hearing your excuses! You knew there were two Jonathans. You helped Valentine get the Mortal Cup and you manipulated all of us to do it."

Hodge hangs his head low and tells them that he did do all of those things. He tells me, Jace, and Alec what he knows of Valentine's plans. That he found a way to destroy the wards resulting in this demon invasion. He told us that Valentine is searching for the Mortal Mirror so he can raise Raziel and demand the destruction of the Clave and that he be able to raise a new race of shadowhunters that will be loyal to Valentine's plan to destroy all downworlders.

"Does he know where the Mortal Mirror is?" Jace asks him. Hodge says no and laughs.

"What is so funny, Hodge?" Alec demands. "I didn't know that you thought the destruction of all shadowhunters was so funny."

"That is not what I am laughing about, Alec." Hodges says. "I am laughing because we have all seen the Mortal Mirror and never known it." Jace and Alec look at each other in confusion while Hodge continues. "It's the lake. Lake Ly..." and an arrow flies through his throat. Jace and Alec jump into action. Alec bends down and catches Hodge as he collapses on the ground, gurgling on his own blood. Jace turns in the direction that the arrow came from and I follow his gaze. There is a guy standing on top of a hill lowering his bow. He has black hair and dark eyes and is smiling in a very sinister way. Before I can even process everything that has just happened, Jace is running towards the dark headed guy on the hill looking murderous as he pulls out one of his seraph blades.

"Jonathan!" Jace yells. Alec looks up from tending to Hodge, who has now gone lifeless, and sees that Jace is charging the other shadowhunter and his eyes go wide and he jumps up to chase after him. The guy on the hill doesn't even seem phased that two very angry shadowhunters are charging at him and he is laughing like he is watching a funny movie. Jace reaches him first and lunges at him with his sword and the guy spins out of the way and lands a nasty kick to Jace's back. Alec had stopped half way there and was loosing an arrow at the guy who then ducks out of the way. Yes, he ducks out of the way.

"Bad form, Jace. Father would be so disappointed in you." The guy says. 'Wait, why did he say father to Jace like that' I say in my head.

Jace has made his way up from the ground and has turned back to the guy and is in a fighting stance. "Let's not get into who Father would be disappointed in, Jonathan." Jace says with venom in his voice.

"Wait a minute. _You_ are Jonathan? The real Jonathan? Clary's brother?" I say mostly to myself, but everyone seems to hear it.

Jonathan laughs and throws his hands up and shouts, "Welcome to the party, vampire! I would just kill you now, but my sister seems to be fond of you for some insane reason."

I look at him across the distance and try to find some similar features between him and Clary, but I fail to see any. As I am looking, I can see Alec coming to stand on the opposite side of Jonathan to try and corner him between him and Jace. Jonathan, who is still not taking this very seriously shifts slightly to accommodate to two fighters and then pulls out another blade. Alec sees an opportunity to strike at his back and takes it. In a blur of movement, even too fast for my eyes, Jonathan turns and kicks Alec's hand, flinging his blade down the hill and then slices at his chest. Alec jumps back just in time to not sustain serious injury and the blade cuts the front of his gear. While Alec is distracted looking at his chest and Jonathan is distracted on attacking Alec, Jace lunges forward to Jonathan and pushes his seraph blade towards his midsection. In another one of those blindingly fast moves, Jonathan grabs Jace's wrist that is holding the blade and brings his knee up to Jace's forearm with incredible force to break his arm. Jonathan sees that Alec is coming back at him and then kicks Alec in the chest and he goes flying backwards and lands hard on his back. Jonathan turns his attention back to Jace while he is looking over at his parabatai and hits Jace in the face, hard, with his free fist while the other one is twisting his broken arm.

I can see that this blow to Jace's face was hard enough to make him extremely disoriented and he is swaying while trying to get back up. Jonathan moves to stand over Jace and raises his blade over his heart and I realize that he is going to kill him. Before I even decide what I am doing, I am moving with all of my vampire speed and instincts toward Jonathan and I jump on his back and sink my teeth into his neck. His blood fills my mouth and I am overcome with a clenching in my stomach. His blood is bitter and gives me no satisfaction to drink it. I manage to distract him long enough for Jace to regain his bearings and he kicks Jonathan's legs out from under him. I jump off of his back and my body starts heaving trying to get his disgusting blood out of me.

I look up long enough to see Jace punching Jonathan in the face repeatedly while Jonathan laughs and Alec had come up from behind him and places a seraph blade to Jonathan's throat. Seeing that Alec has Jonathan on his knees with a blade to his neck, Jace backs away breathing heavily. "Where is Clary." Jace asks Jonathan.

"Last time I checked on her, she was sleeping quietly in her bed at my place. Did you know she mumbles in her sleep?" Jonathan gives Jace a sly smile and Jace pulls his arm back and snaps it forward, connecting with his cheek.

"I said, _where_ is Clary?" Jace demands.

Jonathan smirks. "Don't worry, golden boy, I will take very good care of her." He wags his eyebrows up and down while he says that. Jace's face takes on a whole new kind of rage and he pulls out a dagger and lunges at him when Alec yells at him to stop. Jace stops just before the dagger connects with Jonathan's chest.

"He is the only one who knows where Clary is, Jace. You can't kill him. At least not yet." Alec tells him.

Jonathan nods his head in agreement. "He's right. I am the only one who knows where she is. So go ahead, kill me." He smiles a wide, eye crinkling smile. Jace runs his hands through his hair angrily and grunts his frustration.

Alec speaks up. "We should take him to the Accords Hall, Jace. We can interrogate him there."

"Yeah, take me to the Accords Hall." He turns his head slightly and looks up at Alec. "I like his idea. He must be the smart one while you are the pretty one." and he points to Jace.

Jonathan's voice suddenly turns icy. "What you fail to see here, Jace, is that Clary is not yours. She doesn't belong to you. She belongs to me. She has the same blood running through her veins as I do. She is exactly like me and wants to be with me where ever I am. Clary even said so. We are a team, she and I. We are one."

"Shut _UP_!" Jace screams at him. "She is not a possession and she is _nothing_ like you. And she certainly doesn't want to be there with you. You had to kidnap her to get her to go with you after you killed my little brother!"

"Oh, Max?" Jonathan asks flippantly. "That was an accident. He was going to tell you who I really was."

I look to Alec and I see his resolve to be calm snap away and he pulls the seraph blade back at Jonathan's throat and starts to bring it down to kill him when Jonathan ducks and rolls away while bringing his hands together and then he is gone.

 **-Clary**

I have been sitting in my room for what seems like hours now. I have no way of telling time so it could have been only 30 minutes. I have been going over and over the conversation I had with my father earlier. I think he might actually care for me. But only just a little. He seemed concerned that Jonathan had taken such a keen "interest" in me. I hope he keeps his promise of not making me be alone with Jonathan again. I don't think I could take being alone with him again. I throw my head back on the bed and groan in frustration when my door swings open. I sit up and crawl all the way onto my bed and press myself up against the headboard. 'Please don't be Jonathan' I think.

That is when Jonathan steps into the room and shuts the door behind him. His hair is no longer black and is wet like he just got out of the shower. He is also only wearing sweat pants with his chest exposed and I can see a bruise fading from his cheekbone. I squint my eyes at his face to look for any other injuries. Maybe ones that haven't healed all the way yet that I can push on to cause him pain.

He notices me looking at his bruise and smiles. He looks like he is remembering something funny. "Don't worry, Clary. I am not hurt anywhere else. Although your golden boy did put up a decent fight there at the end."

My mind starts to race. "You fought with Jace?! You _bastard_! Is he okay? Did you hurt him?!" I see the amusement drain out of his eyes as he reaches his hand back like he is going to backhand me. I flinch away, waiting for the impact to come, but it never does. I peak back up at him and see him struggling to control his anger. After a few seconds, he manages to pull his expression back under control.

"Now, can we get back to why I came in here?" Jonathan asks while he moves to sit on my bed. I pull my legs as tight as I can into my chest and plaster myself to the headboard.

He looks up at me and puts on his hurt face. "Why did you tell Father that you didn't want to be alone with me anymore. You hurt my feelings, Clary."

I huff out a breath at him. "You don't have any feelings _to_ hurt. The demon blood made sure of that."

Jonathan almost looked surprised. Almost. "Wow. You learned a lot in you short day abroad."

I can't help but be sarcastic. "Yeah. I took a stroll with Jace and we happened to run into Ithuriel. We chatted each other up and Jace gave him a knife and then he killed himself. You know. Just another ordinary day."

I can tell Jonathan is annoyed by my sarcasm, but I can see him decide to put on his amused face instead. "It seems, Father and I are constantly underestimating you." He says it with a little smirk. "But lets get back on subject. Why did you tell our father that you didn't want to be alone with me. I would never hurt you. Like I said, I love you." When he says the last part, he reaches out and runs the back of his hand down my face. I try to pull away, but the wall I am up against prevents me. When he pulls his hand back, I turn my face to the door realizing that Jonathan wouldn't be in here if he thought Valentine was going to catch him.

"Where is our father?" I ask him.

"Oh. He is having some meeting with the Clave. Don't worry. He will be too busy to notice where I am." He leans in again and reaches for my face when I start to scream "Valentine!" I jump up and stand on my bed, willing myself to melt into the wall to disappear. "Valentine!"

Jonathan jumps up on the bed with me and grabs both of my hands into one of his big ones and moves to squish his body against mine so there is no wiggle room.

I open my mouth to scream and he brings his other hand to cover my mouth."Shhhh, Clarissa. We wouldn't want father to find us in a 'compromising position'." His pupils blow wide when he looks down at our bodies pushed up against each other. He brings his eyes back up to mine and I can see that they have changed. I can see the danger in them. "Can I trust you not to scream again if I move my hand. I want to trust you, Clary." I know there is only one answer I can give him that won't garner a slap to the face. I nod my head. "Good girl, Clary." He pulls his hand off of my mouth and moves it up slightly to cup my face. I can see in his eyes that whatever humanity was there before is now gone. This realization sends me into a panic. I try to pull my hands out of his one hand that he has pinned over my head and wiggle enough away from him to be able to get a leg in between us so maybe I can kick him away, but he just presses his body even harder against mine. He drags his hand down from my face, down my neck, across my collar bone and then down my side where he roughly grabs my hip. By this point, a tear slips out of my eyes because I know that he has lost control and I won't be able to stop him from doing whatever he wants to do to me. He leans in and kisses my neck...and then he is gone. My hands are free and when I look across the room to my door, I see Valentine looking murderously at Jonathan. I look down and see that one of Valentine's arms is covered in blood, staining the expensive looking suit he is wearing. Valentine raises his hand that is covered in blood and back hands Jonathan across the face. I can tell that the slap doesn't hurt Jonathan and that it is meant more to demean him.

"Get out, Jonathan. Now. We will discuss your disobedience in just a moment. Wait for me in the office." Jonathan looks up to his father and I can see Valentine's eyes widen just a fraction at the look on his face. Jonathan doesn't look human. He looks terrifying. My brother turns back to me and his eyes soften ever so slightly and then he leaves the room. I wait till he is gone before I let more tears fall and collapse on the bed. From the corner of my eye, I can see Valentine trying to decide what he should do. I don't think he has any experience with teenage girls. I jump up and I don't care that he is Valentine, destroyer of everything good. I am just glad that he stopped Jonathan before he completely lost control and I wrap my arms around his waist and squeeze. "Thank you, father. Thank you for stopping him." I choke out through my quiet crying. He stiffens for a minute and then I feel him relax ever so slightly and pat my back three times before he reaches around and pulls my hands from around his waist. He quickly looks down at me and then looks away and says gesturing to his arm, "I have to get cleaned up." and he turns and leaves while shutting me in my cage.


	16. Chapter 16

**-Jonathan**

I am sitting in Father's office and I am furious. He will _not_ keep me away from Clary. She is _mine_. I will find a way to be with her. Even if I have to kill Father. He doesn't understand me and he never will. He will _not_ keep me from what is _mine_. I turn to the door when I hear Father's footsteps in the hall. I wonder if he knows how well my hearing is. When he walks through the door, his face is flat and expressionless. He has removed his blood stained jacket and rolled up his sleeves and has washed the blood from his skin. I think about asking him why he was elbow deep in blood, but I really don't care why. He walks around his desk and I sit in my chair because I know that is what he wants.

"I told you, Jonathan, to leave dealing with you sister to me and that you were not to be alone with her. What about those orders did you not understand?" He looks up at me and I can see how mad he is at me.

"I just wanted to ask her why she didn't want to see me anymore." I tell him innocently.

"Is that why you had her pinned against the wall and kissing her neck?" Father asks me while his voice is growing angrier.

"No, Father. I was just..." Father interrupts me.

"She is your _sister_ , not your girlfriend or plaything." he says through clenched teeth.

How dare he try to classify my relationship with her. He knows nothing of the connection we share. "Do not tell me what she is to me." I let my mask slip away because I am growing tired of him keeping me away from her. "She is whatever I want her to be because she was made for me. She is _mine_." I rise out of my chair and prepare to lunge at my father to kill him when I am thrown back against the wall by an unseen force. I look back over to father and see that he is across the room holding his hand up and pinning me against the wall. If only he would fight me without his self taught magic from all of those experiments. I would decimate him.

He is walking to me now and I still cannot move. "You will _not_ harm your sister. She is more important and intelligent than I previously thought and I will not have you destroying her just to please yourself."

"I know how intelligent and talented she is. That is why she is perfect for me. There is no one better than her and I and we will be unstoppable." I tell him with fervor. "If you could only see what I see..." My throat is suddenly closed off and I cannot get any air. Father leans in and places his face directly in front of mine when he says, "You will never be with her that way. _Ever._ If I ever catch you harming her again, I will chain you in the cellar and leave you there until you can be trusted. Do you understand?"

The lack of air is starting to get uncomfortable at this point so I nod my agreement. He releases me from whatever magic he has and I take a deep, but quiet breath.

"You are excused, Jonathan." Father says to me. I turn and leave to go to the training room so I can practice killing my father. Nothing and no one will stand in the way of what I want.

 **-Jace**

"Where the _hell_ did he go?" I ask looking around. "He was just there and he...disappeared." I look to Alec who looks just as pissed as I am.

"It's the same thing that happened when he took Clary." Alec says. "It's like he has some teleportation device."

I am so angry at myself for letting him slip out of my hands a second time. "Dammit!"

I look up to see Simon walking toward us looking sick. "Man, his blood tastes like poison." Simon says as he spits.

Alec speaks up always being the voice of reason. "We need to go back to the Accords Hall and tell the Consul what Hodge told us. They need to station guards at the lake to keep Valentine away."

I blow out a small laugh. "What makes you think we can stop him from getting to the lake when he can do all of this?" I ask him as I hold out my hands and gesture at all of the destruction.

Alec looks annoyed and says, "That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, Jace. No lets go. " He turns and starts walking in the direction of the hall.

When we got back, we found Luke and told him what happened and that Clary was gone, again. He was livid, of course, and marched over to the Penhallows to ask them why they let Valentine's real son stay in their house, suggesting that they were spies for Valentine. I left him there and walked over to my family, who were all gathered around Max, and just sat there feeling lost for a long time. I don't know how much time passed when I heard a few gasps from the crowd and saw a bunch of people pointing to the dais. I turned around and craned my neck over the crowd to see that Valentine is standing there in a nice suit and smiling. Someone pulled out a blade and lunged at him and stumbled when he didn't connect with Valentine; but instead ran right through him.

"You cannot harm me." Valentine drawls out. "I am a projection and I am here to negotiate anyway." He looks down at the crowd and his mouth quirks up slightly on one side. "As you can see, my power has grown exponentially. This was only a fraction of what I can do." He puts his arms out wide and gestures all around him with his face alighting on the dead shadowhunters laid around. "Throw down your weapons and swear your loyalty to me and obey my will and you will be spared. Refuse and I will raise all of the demons from hell and bring them here and destroy our race and rebuild it with one of my own." His face grows serious. "Those are your options."

There is movement to my left and I turn to see Inquisitor Aldertree pushing past people heading for the dais. "Who do you think you are, Valentine? I am the Inquisitor and I make the law. _Not you_." In one quick movement, I see Valentine reach his hand out and shove it _into_ Aldertree's chest. For a moment I wonder what he is doing. Projections can't hurt anything. But then I see the Inquisitors face and it is a mask of pain. I look down again to Valentine's arm and see him twist his wrist in a quick jerking movement and then pull Aldertree's heart out of his chest. The arm of his suit and his hand is covered in blood. As soon as Valentine's arm is pulled from the Inquisitor, he falls down and makes a thudding sound as he dies.

"Do you see the power that I have obtained while I was planning this all of these years?" Valentine says while he squeezes Aldertree's heart. "Do you think that I have not thought of everything and do you think that I would have done all of this if I did not know I would win?" He laughs a breathy laugh without humor and throws the heart he is holding into the crowd. "All of you are fools."

As I am watching what is transpiring, I realize that this may be the best opportunity at getting Clary back. I start to move through the crowd, drawing Valentine's attention. "Ahh. Jonathan. I did not see you there."

I walk up the steps and throw down my weapons one by one while I hear the muffled gasps from the crowd and shouts of 'traitor' spreading. That is when I feel someone's hand on my arm and spin me around. It was Alec and he was looking incredibly hurt. "What are you doing, Jace?" he asks me. I look up at him with determination. "I am joining Valentine. He has Clary and I will not be on the side that is against Clary. I can't do that to her." I am trying to will Alec to understand that this is my best chance to get her back. I chance my luck and wink at him which makes him furrow his brows in confusion. "Trust me." I tell Alec. Even though I can tell he is furious and feels betrayed, he releases my arm and I turn back around to face Valentine.

"If I join you, you must swear that you will not harm Clary." I look at him directly in the eye to see if he shows any sign of going back on his word. He looks offended as he says, "I would never hurt my own daughter, Jonathan. What do you think I am? A monster?"

"Yes, I do. But you have my heart in your possession and I want more than anything to be reunited with it. Even if that means turning my back on everything else." I turn back at the crowd but intentionally avoid looking at the Lightwoods. I lean in and lower my voice so that no one else will hear me. "I will not let her be harmed by anyone, and that in includes Jonathan. I think you already know how royally messed up he is." I lean back away and say with a louder voice. "I will go with you, Valentine. I will join your cause."

The crowd breaks out in an angry roar while Valentine smiles slyly at me. He leans forward to whisper in my ear then. "If you try to betray me or harm me at any point, I will not hesitate to take my frustrations out on Clarissa. Do you understand?" He leans back away and I give him a stern nod of my head. He looks back out to the crowd and the room grows quiet. "You have three days to decide. I will come with my army of demons on the third day at midnight to find out your answer." He looks to me and gestures for me to stand beside him. I move to his side and he places a hand on my shoulder and everything falls away into darkness.

I feel like I am falling and spinning and my insides are being pulled and twisted. I land on my knees and roll uncontrollably into a wall. The dizziness I feel is almost enough to make me pass out, but I barely manage to keep from doing so.

"Yes." I can hear Valentine say. "It is quite disorienting the first time. It is much rougher that a portal but a much quicker way." I turn my head to look in the direction of his voice, but I move too fast and all I see are stars before I blackout.

When I wake up, I am in a bare room on a bed. The walls are white and there is a wardrobe against the opposite wall. I sit up and see that there is a plate of food on my nightstand. There is an apple and what I think is a chicken breast with a lemon pepper glaze and a plastic glass filled with water. Father was always very strict about my diet. No carbs and high protein. I look behind me and see that the bed is very modern and sleek and black. I get up and pick one of the two doors in the room and reach for the doorknob. When my skin makes contact, I large jolt of electricity runs up my arm and seems to target my heart which gives an unsteady thump and I step back away. He must have put some spell on it to keep me in this room. I look to the other door and walk over to open it only to see that it is a bathroom. I then give both rooms a quick search only to find it has been stripped of everything other than a bed with covers, a wardrobe with a few sets of clothes, and some shampoo and soap in the bathroom.

"Think, Jace." I tell myself. I know Clary is probably somewhere here too, and I have to find a way to get to her. I need to know that she is alright. And I also need to eat. I can't even remember the last time I ate and I have to have my strength if I am going to get through this and find her. I sit on the edge of my bed and begin to eat.

 **-Clary**

I am laying on my bed feeling completely exhausted, trying to go to sleep but I am too hungry. I still haven't had anything to eat and I am starting to feel sick because of it. My hands are shaking and my vision is getting blurry when I try to focus on any one thing for too long. I don't know how to get anyone's attention to tell them either. I roll on my side and curl into a ball while I close my eyes and try my hardest to forget the pain in my stomach.

I must have drifted off because I am startled when I feel someone watching me and I turn to see Valentine standing in my room with a plate of food. It startles me and I jump slightly at the shock of him being there.

"Here, Clarissa." He sets the plate down on the nightstand. I can see that it is shredded chicken and an apple with a glass of water. "I don't know when the last time you ate was."

I sit up and smooth my hair down. "It's been a while. I am very hungry. Thank you." I tell him in my sweetest voice. I reach for the food and grab a piece of the chicken and put it in my mouth while I close my eyes in satisfaction. I look back at Valentine who seems to be waiting for me to give him my attention. I finish chewing and take a sip of the water and place it back on the nightstand. I turn my face up to his expectantly because he obviously has something to say.

"I have good news, Clarissa." I instantly furrow my brows because his version of good news can only be bad. He doesn't acknowledge my confusion and continues. "Jace has decided to join my cause."

This takes me completely by shock. I have absolutely no response. "He is here, upstairs in his room." I immediately stand up and look to the door. "If you want to see him, sit back down." I do as he says and I feel my legs go numb. I try to move them but they feel like the weigh a thousand pounds each. "I have immobilized you for your own safety so I can show you Jace." He pulls out his stele from his pocket and begins to draw the Spy rune on the wall opposite of me. "Show me Jace." Valentine says and the image of Jace begins to form. I see him asleep on the bed that is in the room that was meant for him upstairs. "Jace!" I yell. "Is he okay?" I ask him.

"He is just sleeping. He was not harmed. He decided to join me because of you, actually. It is quite romantic if you ask me." The look on his face lets me know that he thinks nothing of the sort. He lets the image of Jace fade away and I am left with my heart racing and my adrenaline pumping. "Now that I have your attention, Clarissa, I have a demand for you." He looks at me with questioning eyes like he is trying to gauge my reaction. "I want you to create a rune for me."

Before I can even think about it, I spit at him in an angry voice, "Never."

"I thought you might say that." he says. "Should I tell Jonathan to go visit his brother for a while?" Panic runs through me followed swiftly by anger. He is going to use my love for Jace to get what he wants and I assume he will do the same with Jace.

"Don't you hurt him!" I shout at Valentine.

"I won't have to if you create a rune for me. This is a compromise. A negotiation where we both get what we want. I want my rune and you don't want Jace hurt. Do you see how that works?" When he is done talking, he smiles at me knowing that he has won.

I clench my fists together in my lap while I purse my lips. I give him a nod and he smiles widely at me. "What rune is it you want?" I ask through my clenched teeth.

He places his hands behind his back and laces his fingers together before he starts. "I have long since wondered why the angel Raziel left us so bare before our enemies. Why do Warlocks have the power to do magic? Why do the Vampires have and immortal life and super speed and so on and so on." He looks down thoughtfully like a teacher would do in class. "I want a rune that will strip them of their powers. A rune that will transfer their powers to me. Raziel should have not left us so weak before our enemies. Although I do have some magical abilities, it is nothing compared to what a warlock that is hundreds of years old could do. These demon creatures should not have those abilities. We should." He is looking like he is making a speech now and I can see how passionate his is about this. How angry he is. I can also see how jealous he is of downworlders. I can see jealousy more than anything. "Now, will you comply with what I have asked of you?" I close my eyes and think about Jace. I swore that I would never let anyone manipulate me into using my ability for them ever again... but Jace. When I think of Jonathan hurting him, it makes me sick in a way that I have never felt before and I know I have lost.

I hang my head in defeat. "Yes. I will do it." I say lowly. I am completely ashamed of myself.

"Very good, Clarissa. You have one day." I don't look back up to him but I see his feet as he walks to the door and goes through it. I feel him release my legs and I slide off the edge of my bed and crumble to the floor in hopelessness.

 **-Alec**

I can't believe Jace just did that. Why did I let him go? 'Trust me' he said. I touch my parabatai rune in satisfaction knowing that he is not hurt. I would know if he was. I am walking out of the Hall and leaving my parents and Izzy behind. I have to get some air. That is when I see a familiar face. I see his spiky hair coming towards me and I don't care if anyone sees me. I run to him and grab him in a big hug. I just need to be held after everything that has happened tonight. I feel Magnus freeze in shock and then relax as his arms come around me.

"Alec, what's wrong?" Magnus asks me in a soft voice.

"Everything, Magnus. Everything is wrong."

 **-Valentine**

As I am walking away from Clarissa's room, I am thinking how things could not have gone better. The fact that Jace chose to come here to me was incredibly fortuitous. I can manipulate both Jace and Clary to get what I want. But then that presents the problem with Jonathan. He has developed a most unhealthy obsession with Clarissa. He wants to be with her as a couple. I wish I could have foreseen this. I would have kept them apart. Jonathan finally decides to make a human connection and it is with his sister. I laugh humorlessly to myself. I always wished he would make a human connection and now that he finally has, I find myself wishing that he wouldn't have.

And then there is Jace. Although I will never admit it, he was always the one I wished to take my place. I was heartbroken when I realized that he would never have the capacity to carry out the destruction of downworlders. Too much of the angel blood in him and too much of the demon blood in Jonathan.

I reach my room and close the door behind me wanting to be alone after the incredibly long day. I pick up my stele and draw my new favorite rune and say "Show me the Accords Hall" and the image begins to form. They are fighting amongst themselves. Some adamantly against me and some willing to join. It is if they actually think they have a choice. I laugh for real this time because I have spent 15 years of my life perfecting this plan to be fool proof.

I close that spy window and draw another one. "Show me Jace." I mostly just want to see his face. I have spent the past ten years not being able to watch him sleep and there he is in my apartment, sleeping. I close that spy window out and open another one. "Show me Clarissa." The shimmering metal starts to give way to the image of her sitting on her bed and she looks like she has just stopped crying. I think back to earlier when she wrapped her arms around me and called me father. I started to feel my heart let her in but I managed to stop it before it took root. It makes me think of all the time that I was cheated out of. When I look at her, it is like looking at Jocelyn when we were first together. She was so young and vibrant and beautiful. She was the only thing I allowed myself to love whole heartedly. I look back at Clarissa and remember that she is why Jocelyn left me and I close the window in anger.

I begin to draw another Spy rune and soon the shimmering is waiting for me to say who. "Show me Jonathan." The window gives way to Jonathan in the training room spinning and stabbing the training dummies with pure rage. I have rarely seen him lose control like this and I would be lying if I didn't say it didn't trouble me. The only thing that has prevented Jonathan from killing me thus far is my ability to restrain him but I fear one day that will not be enough. I watch him for a few minutes until he stops for a moment and he is breathing heavily. He pulls a knife off of a table and throws it across the room where it lands squarely where a man's heart would be. He then looks toward the stairs that lead to my room and says with his most deadly voice through clenched teeth, "She is _mine_ and there is nothing _you_ can do about it."

"Dammit." I say under my breath. This is worse than I had previously thought. With me being so distracted with my plans, I have not been able to monitor Jonathan like I always have. I will have to walk a fine line with him. Maybe I will let him have her after I am done with her.

"Ugh." I groan out. Stop thinking like that. The key to have both Jace and Clarissa's cooperation is each other's safety and well being. On the other hand, I am not sure how long I will be able to keep Jonathan from Clarissa. He is unbelievably determined when it comes to things he wants, and he has never wanted anything more than Clarissa. I also wonder what kind of offspring she and Jace would produce with their concentrated angel blood. If they would be as gifted as they are or would they be more so? But if I don't let Jonathan have Clarissa, he will most likely turn against me. I also wonder what God would say if I gave her to Jonathan. I know what he would do to her and I don't think that God would approve. But then again, there was the story of Solomon and his sister. What kind of father would I be if I let one child destroy the other? Then again, if I let Clarissa be destroyed, it would be the ultimate punishment for Jocelyn for leaving me.

I stand up and walk to the wardrobe that holds all of Jocelyn's clothes and run my fingers through the soft material. Even after everything she has done, I have no idea why I love her still. Maybe now that I have Clarissa with me, she will decide to join me. Then I would be able to convince her of my rightness and remind her of the love we have shared. I close the doors to the wardrobe and walk to the wall with my stele and draw a Spy rune. "Show me Jocelyn." I fully expect to see her in the same state. Unconscious. Instead, when the shimmering metal dissipates, I see the warlock Catarina Loss stepping away from her as she sits up and blinks her eyes slowly. "Whe...where am I?" Jocelyn asks as she looks around.

"You are in Beth Israel Hospital." Catarina tells her.

"Where is Clary? Where is my daughter? Where is Luke?" Jocelyn asks as her voice raises in panic. The sound of Lucian's mundane name coming out of her mouth makes me furious.

"They are in Idris."

"What?! Why are they in Idris?!" Jocelyn looks downright panicked at this news and is trying to sit up.

Catarina places a hand on her shoulder and lightly pusher her back down. "Jocelyn, you have been asleep for a long time. You are weak and a lot has happened in the time you have been under this spell. I will tell you everything, but first, you have to lie back down for a moment."

Jocelyn looks like she wants to protest, but after a moments hesitation, she lies back down. Catarina nods her head and walks to the other side of the bed where the chair is and sits down. "First things first. As last I have known, Clary is fine. Magnus told me that Valentine had kidnapped her...

Jocelyn sits straight up. "What?!"

Catarina jumps up and hold out her finger in a gesture meant to say 'hold on', and Jocelyn says "Continue."

The warlock sits back down and eyes Jocelyn knowingly. "Valentine had her but she managed to escape and now she is with Luke in Idris."

Jocelyn visibly relaxes and the monitor that shows her heart rate slows down to a more normal rate. "Is she okay? Did Valentine hurt her?"

"Magnus said nothing of her being hurt so I assume that she is fine."

Just then a familiar site appears in the small hospital room. Someone has sent a fire message to Catarina. She reaches out and grabs the burning paper and gives it a flick of her wrist to douse the remaining flames and opens it. The longer she reads, the more distraught her expressions get. She looks up at Jocelyn and her eyes look almost apologetic. It would have been a convincing display of emotions if warlocks had any emotions.

"What? What is it Catarina?"

"This is from Magnus Bane." She holds up the message. "He is in Allicante and there seems to have been some sort of demon invasion."

"A demon invasion?" Jocelyn asks. "But that's not possible."

"Well apparently it is. And I have some troubling news." Catarina says placing one of her blue hands on one of Jocelyn's tiny ones.

"Oh no. Is Clary okay?" A tear slips down Jocelyn's cheek. "Tell me she's okay."

The warlock looks into Jocelyn's eyes and says, "It would appear that during all of the chaos, Valentine has kidnapped Clary again."

"But why? What would he want with her?" she says angrily. "She doesn't even know what she is. She is just a little girl!" Jocelyn places her head in her hands for a moment then looks up with a spark in her eyes. The familiar spark that I have always loved to see in her eyes. "I have to find him and get her back. No, I _will_ find him and get her back."

I smile because this is exactly what I want her to do. "Come to me, darling." I say to her and smile. This is turning out to be so much better than I had imagined.


	17. Chapter 17

- **Clary**

When I was done feeling sorry for myself about the situation I am in, I ate the chicken which was cooked in some lemon pepper sauce (it was pretty good), I crawled onto the bed and sat with my legs crossed and the apple in my hand. I bring it up and take a bite and it reminds me of my first kiss with Jace. I smile to myself because that was one of the best moments of my life. For a while the memory was tainted by a vicious lie and I feel like have been given back all of the memories that were tainted. He tasted like apples and his hands were warm and strong yet soft. The thought of him being hurt by Jonathan or Valentine makes me snap back out of the memory. I can't let either of them touch him. Especially Jonathan.

I take another bite and close my eyes to concentrate. I take my metaphoric washcloth with turpentine and wipe away all other thoughts in my mind. Deep breaths. Clear mind. Before I can even think about a rune, one pops up in my mind. I have seen it before. It is like a stick with wings...but I don't get the feeling that this is what I am looking for. I wipe away my mind again. Focus. He wants a rune that will take away a downworlders power. One that will transfer their power and abilities to him. I begin to chant words in my head. 'Taking. Sharing. Sharing. Stripping. Transferring. Transferring. Binding...I see a flicker of something. My hand twitches. I wish I could have a pencil to draw or write with. I see another flicker of lines and then the line bends and it looks like a knot. But it doesn't feel complete. I can see it now and am in desperate need of a pencil. A binding rune. Not a rune that will strip the power of the downworlder, but share it with a shadowhunter. I am not sure how he will feel about this; having to share the power and not be able to have it forever. This is the best I can do though.

I consider calling out for Valentine, but it has only been, I think, a couple of hours. I lean back in bed and set my half eaten apple on the night stand and close my eyes. Maybe now I will be able to sleep now that my stomach isn't twisted with hunger pains. Not for the first time, I picture that Jace is beside me in bed and it is just another night. I know he is in the same house with me, just a short distance away and I let that thought carry me into sleep.

I wake up stiff. I feel like I have been asleep for a long time. "Clarissa." I feel a hand on the top of my arm. "Wake up." I roll over with a jolt. It's Valentine and he is holding a tray of breakfast food. "It is past morning, but I thought you should have your sleep. You need to be able to focus to create my rune." He sets the tray down and moves to sit on the edge of my bed. "How is your project progressing?" I laugh a little to myself. He called his manipulation and extortion of my abilities a project.

I sit up and wipe the drool I can feel on the side of my face off. "Um. I need a pencil and some paper. I have an idea, but I need to write it down to make sure of it." I look over at Valentine to see what his reaction is and he is smiling. He is trying to control his emotions and keep his mask of indifference on, but he can't help but let it slip.

He stands up and looks back down at me. "I think I can make that happen. Why don't you eat first and then I will bring you what you need." Valentine turns to leave and opens the door with a wave of his arm. "I will be watching you to see when you are done with your breakfast." He walks through the door and shuts it behind him. I hate that he or Jonathan can see me anytime they want.

I climb out of bed and walk into the bathroom. I grab the towel from the back of the toilet and use it to cover myself while I go to the bathroom. I would love to take a shower but that is out of the question. Ugh. Why did I have to create that rune? Why did I allow myself to be manipulated to create that rune? I should have been smarter. I finish using the bathroom and go back into the room to see my breakfast. There is a bowl of oatmeal with a spoon and an assortment of fruit and a small plastic cup of milk. The oatmeal smells of apple and cinnamon. My favorite. I sit down and begin to eat and think about ways to get Valentine to let me see Jace. I look down at my bowl of oatmeal and bring a spoonful of it up to my mouth... 'Wait.' I think to myself. I am recalling a story that Jonathan told me about him killing a demon with the handle of a spoon. If you use enough force, you can impale someone with it.

I remind myself to take a bite because Valentine is watching. How do I manage to hide the spoon from him in order to use it against him if he is watching me? 'Think Clary.' I tell myself. I remember to take another bite. Maybe I don't hide the spoon. Just leave it in the bowl. I can pick up the tray like I am going to give it to him with one hand and grab the spoon with the other hand and jam it into his chest or throat. I know I don't have enough force to impale him in the head. Too much bone there. But maybe I would have enough strength to jam it into a fleshier part of him.

Thinking about ways to kill or seriously injure my own father sends a chill down my back. Even though I know that he will keep me prisoner here for the foreseeable future and use me for my abilities, the thought of murdering my father doesn't exactly give me pleasure. But it has to be done if Jace or I ever want to be free of him.

In the time that it has taken me to finish my bowl of oatmeal, I have come up with the best possible plan I can. I grab a piece of the fruit and pop it in my mouth. It's cantaloupe. One of my favorites. I finish the rest and down my glass of milk. I pick up the spoon and lick it clean and then place it in the bowl upside down so I can grab it by the wide part instead of trying to flip it to be the right way.

I take deep breaths and try to prepare myself for what I am about to do. Breathe in. I have no choice but to do it. Breathe out. I can't let him keep me and Jace here forever. Breathe in. I have to get far away from Jonathan. Breathe out. He will use mine and Jace's love for each other against us and turn it into something ugly. Breathe in. 'I can't believe I am about to stab someone with a spoon' I think to myself. The absurdity of it almost makes me laugh.

The door begins to open. I slowly look up, steeling my expression on the way, and see a familiar face come into view. He leaves the door open and looks at me with soft eyes.

"Jonathan." I breathe out. I start to slide away but then think to myself that killing him might be a better alternative. He does want to rape me after all.

He puts his hands up, palms out, in a peaceful expression showing me that he means no harm. "I just came to get your breakfast tray. Father told me that you would feel more comfortable if I left the door open while I came in here to get it."

I nod my head in agreement, fighting the urge to back away from him. "I also wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday." He tells me in a soft voice. "Sometimes my demon blood tries to control me and I have to fight to keep it under wraps." He smiles sheepishly at me. "Father is watching so you don't have to look so scared. I wouldn't hurt you anyway. I could never hurt you. I love..."

I interrupt him. "Just stop, Jonathan. Just take my tray and leave." To my surprise, my voice is commanding and doesn't show the fear I feel and nervousness of what I am about to do. He looks annoyed for a split second and then he smooths his face back into his soft apologetic face. "Okay, Clary." I pick up the tray in my left hand and extend it just a little to him as I tense my muscles to get ready to burst into action.

He takes a couple of steps toward me as I bring my right hand up to grab the spoon. He places his hand on the other side of the tray and I grab the spoon with all of the shadowhunter quickness that I can manage. He is still grasping the tray and I jerk it forward so he will fall slightly towards me so I can reach him in order to stab him. Jonathan stumbles slightly towards me, bending at the waist, and it is far enough. I shove the spoon forward with all of my might and he turns at the last second. I stab him shallowly in the shoulder and then kick him away with all of my might. He falls two steps back and I jump up from the bed and come at him again with the spoon. He is still slightly off balance and I go for his abdomen. But I am not quick enough.

He sees my movement and when I go to stab him again, he side steps out of the way and grabs my wrist tightly and begins to laugh. I reach up with my left hand and try to rake my fingers across his face, but he just ends up grabbing that hand with his other one. He looks down at me with a fire in his eyes and is laughing. This sparks rage inside of me and I move to kick him. Jonathan, of course, sees this movement and sweeps my legs out from under me and we fall tangled together onto the floor. His body is pressed up against mine with his nose only inches from mine.

"Nice, Clary." He says in between laughter. "Very nice. You remembered my story about killing a demon with a spoon handle. I would say I am impressed, but I have known for a while now how incredible you are." I wiggle to try to get away. "I like the fire in you. It keeps me on my toes and keeps me guessing. You have no idea how boring people can get when you have a mind like mine. But you, Clary, are never boring." When Jonathan finishes his little speech, I push out at him one more time and he lets go. The moment his hands free me, I am standing up and I hear Valentine in the hallway coming towards us.

"That is enough, Jonathan. Leave us." Valentine says as he appears in the doorway holding paper and a pencil.

"As you wish, Father." Jonathan replies. He pushes himself off of the floor and brings his hand to his shoulder where I stabbed him and wipes the blood off. He looks down at his blood stained hand and then looks back up at me and smiles. His smile is frenzied in a hungry kind of way and he turns and leaves the room.

Valentine turns and looks at me and then bends down to pick the spoon off of the floor and inspects the blood on the handle. "I would be more impressed with you if I weren't so angry." He looks back at me and I can see that he is truly angry. "I thought giving you a spoon to eat with would be harmless enough, but apparently, you have proven my assumptions about you wrong."

He steps forward and tosses the paper and pencil on the bed. "What you have done, Clarissa, deserves punishment. I will not take to such blatant insubordination so lightly."

I look down and reply, "I understand." while waiting for my punishment.

"It seems that the only way to get you to be cooperative, is through Jace." I jerk my head back up and look at him in a panic.

" _NO_! Leave Jace alone." I tell him frantically. "I am the one who attacked Jonathan, not Jace! Punish me!" My hands are clasped together in front of me and I am holding them in a begging position.

Valentine furrows his brows at me and says, "But don't you see, Clarissa? By punishing Jace, I _am_ punishing you." Oh God no. Please. I have messed up so bad and I need to fix this quick. He turns like he is going to leave and I shout, "I have the rune already."

Valentine stops mid-step and turns slowly. I lick my lips because my mouth has just gone dry. "Tell me you won't hurt Jace and I will draw the rune for you." When he says nothing, I panic and begin to speak again. "I also have another rune. I don't know what it means, but it keeps coming to me." I seem to have captured his attention. "I will draw you both runes if you leave Jace alone."

He looks like he is in deep thought for a moment before he speaks. "No, Clarissa. You will show me both of these runes and then I will decide if your information is worth Jace's safety."

I weakly nod my head in agreement. I reach over and grab the paper and pencil and begin to draw the Binding rune. Valentine has moved close to me now and is looking at what I am drawing.

"I call this one the Binding Rune. It doesn't strip the other of their power, but it allows you to use theirs." I look up at him to assess his reaction. He is looking inquisitively at the drawing. I turn my attention back to the paper. "This is only one half of the rune. You have to put the other half of the rune onto the downworlder whose powers you want to use."

His eyes dart up to mine. "Only the angel's children can bare the Marks of heaven." Valentine says this indignantly at me while his face slips into disgust.

"Not this one." I say shaking my head. "I don't know how I know, but I know that this one is different." I look up into his eyes and he brings his dark eyes to meet mine. "They can't bear any of the other Marks. Only this one. Like I said, I don't know how I know, but I just do."

Surprisingly, he seems to take my word for it. His face of disgust turns into an expression acceptance and he nods his head. "And the other rune. What will this other rune do?"

I shake my head slightly. "I don't know. It has been coming to me for a while now. I don't think it is a rune to be used everyday." I look down at the paper and begin to draw it as I speak. "I can feel that it is very powerful though. I just don't know how to use it quite yet."

I can feel Valentine watching me as I draw the rune. A pair of wings with connected with a bar. What I don't do, is put the cross section of the bar at the top. Hopefully he won't ever find out that it isn't completed. When I am done, I sit back and look over at Valentine. His eyes are glued to the paper with guarded happiness. He reaches out and picks up the paper and starts to walk towards the door. When he reaches it, he turns around with a thoughtful look on his face. "I have a question about the Binding rune." He looks at me to make sure I am listening and I give a nod. "If the downworlder I am paired with dies, will I die too?"

I can tell he thinks I am up to something. "No, no. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't tie their life to yours. You just share each other's abilities."

"So the downworlder could have my abilities as well?" Valentine asks me. By the way he asks, I don't think that he likes the thought of sharing his own abilities.

"Yes. That is how it works. I tried to think of any other possible rune, but this is the only one that came to me." I tell him in a pleading tone. "Maybe if I have more time..."

Valentine moves his hand in a sweeping motion letting me know he wants me to be quiet. "This is fine for now, Clarissa. I will consider if this will be enough to spare Jace." He takes a quick step through the door and closes it behind him.

 **-Luke**

"How bad can Valentine be?" Marcus Bloodsaw says. "I mean, he is a shadowhunter like us." He gestures towards me. "Well, like _you_ were."

I rub my brow in frustration and look out to the late morning sun. "Yes, Marcus. He was my parabatai, so if anyone knows him, it is me. And you _do not_ want to follow under him." I look up into the eyes of our small arguing group. "He only wants destruction. Destruction of _all_ , not just the bad ones, but of _all_ downworlders. And what do you think he will do with you? What if one of you were to make him angry or do something he would not approve of? He wouldn't hesitate for one second to kill you whether you have pledged your loyalty to him or not."

I feel I have had the same conversation and the same argument with dozens of people today. I have no idea if my argument is winning people over or not. I feel like I am making valid points, but shadowhunters can be very high and mighty, never wanting to admit that one of them can be so evil as to wipe out his own race to get what he wants.

Marcus looks at Carmen Morningside and says, "I can't wrap my mind around what you are saying, Lucian. I just can't believe that he would do that."

"Listen," I tell them, "all of downworld is offering to help you fight him and our only request is that you give each of us a seat on the council. I don't think that is too much to ask." I see Maia raise her head above the crowd and gesture for me to come over. "Just...think about it without immediately dismissing it. Now, if you will excuse me. My pack needs me."

I step away from the group and make my way through the crowd to Maia. "Hey, Maia. What do you need?" I ask her.

Maia shifts uncertainly. "There is a woman shadowhunter who is saying that she needs to see you. She was asking all of the wolves outside where you were."

I look at Maia expectantly. "Okay. Well, then where is she?" I ask in a clipped voice. I know I am being a little short with her, but I am really tired and aggravated.

"Um," Maia looks uncertainly back at the doors of the hall, "the last time I saw her, she was over there." Maia points to a dark alcove near the door.

I glance in that direction to see if I can see anyone I know. "Did she tell you her name?" I ask of Maia.

"I asked her, and she wouldn't tell me. She kept looking around like she was paranoid."

I am growing slightly impatient because she isn't giving me much to go on. "What does she look like?" I glance back at the alcove and all I can see are unfamiliar shadowhunter faces.

"She has really red hair. Kind of like Clary's." Maia shrugs like this is all she noticed of her.

I sigh and nod my head and place my hand on Maia's shoulders. "Thanks Maia." I turn and walk towards the alcove. As I am making my way there, all I can think about is how I wish Jocelyn was here. Hearing Maia say this lady has hair like Clary's... I see a flash of red hair and I could have sworn it was Jocelyn. I shake my head and try to clear it because I am apparently starting to hallucinate. I rub my hand down my face and look back up... and see Jocelyn standing in front of me.

"Hi, Luke." Jocelyn says uncertainly.

"Jocelyn?!" I feel like I am in shock. "But how...weren't you...hospital?" I realize that I am stammering and I grab Jocelyn up in a fierce hug. I dip my face into her neck and bury myself there. She seems caught off guard for a second, but quickly returns my hug. It was like I made her appear out of sheer will. I set her back down after I realize I have been holding her for a while and pull back to look at her. I try to smooth out my expression a little to not show the desperation in my eyes at the site of her. I grab one of her hands because I feel like I have to be touching her in some way to make sure she is real. "How did you get here? How did you wake up?"

Jocelyn smiles a little shyly and dips her head as one hand comes up to push a stray piece of hair out of her face that has escaped from her signature sloppy bun. "Magnus Bane made the antidote for the potion I took and Catarina Loss gave it to me. And now," she looks back up and gestures around us, "here I am."

I can't help it as I pull her in for another hug. I grip her tightly, but quickly, and pull away. She looks back at me and she has the look on her face that says she means business when she asks, "What happened to Clary?" At the mention of Clary, my heart gives a little thump and I suddenly find it hard to swallow. Arguing with the shadowhunters has managed to distract me for a little while from my complete lack of protecting Clary. I know when I tell her that I left her alone, she will probably hate me forever.

"Jonathan. Jonathan took her." At the mention of her son's name, she goes as white as a sheet.

She stammers for a second. "I thought he...that he was dead all these years. And then when Valentine had me, he kept talking about the two Jonathan's. He really confused me." I can see her eyes drift back to remember. "He kept saying something about Celine Herondale and her baby. But she killed herself before her baby was born." She turns and pulls my hand back further into the dark alcove.

Isabelle Lightwood had found me a little after Jace decided to join Valentine to talk about finding Jace and Clary. I hope that it he has a plan to get Clary back, and not really to join him. Isabelle told me what Clary and Jace had told them about Jace being raised by Valentine at the same time that he was raising Jocelyn and his' son. I tell her about all of this and she watches me intently as I do. When I get to the point where Jace joined Valentine and disappeared, Jocelyn makes a scowl and narrows her eyes.

"No, no. I think that it was a good thing that Jace joined him." I quickly tell her.

She nods slightly and says, "I guess you are right. Anything touched by Valentine will destroy anything _it_ touches. Better to have the traitor away from the rest of them. He could have been feeding Valentine information about Clary all along."

This is when I realize that I haven't told her about Clary and Jace. About how they are "together." I swallow hard because I know how she is going to react. "That's not what I meant." Jocelyn's eyes snap back at me and her brows furrow in confusion. "Jace and Clary..." I can't seem to get the words out of my mouth. I uncomfortably shift my weight to my other foot. "Clary and Jace are together. Like 'together', together." I widen my eyes when I say this trying to convey what I am telling her. I can see realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

"What?!" She almost shouts. "Like boyfriend and girlfriend?" she asks me. All I do is nod my head. Jocelyn starts shaking her head vigorously back and forth. "No. This is not good. He can't be good for her. He was raised by Valentine. He will ruin her!" She looks up at me with wild eyes. "Why would she be with him? And why did you say that Jace going with Valentine would be a good thing for Clary?" She is grabbing my wrist and squeezing impressively hard.

"You don't know him, Jocelyn." I say this soothingly trying to pull my wrist away. "He doesn't seem to be anything like Valentine. And the way he looks at Clary...it is like he is looking at the sun when he looks at her. Like she is his whole world." Jocelyn looks worried and lets go of my wrist finally. I think she might have given me a bruise. "I think he went with Valentine so he could get Clary back. I think that boy would move heaven and earth for her." I don't know who I am trying to convince at this point. Me or Jocelyn. Then I think back to the way Clary and Jace were looking at each other at the Penhallows and how their eyes would light up to this brilliant flame when they would lock eyes. It reminds me of how I would look at Jocelyn when we were kids. I hope that my face doesn't look like that now when I look at her. I don't think I could take her and everyone else seeing me look at her like that and knowing that she doesn't look the same way back at me.

As I am telling her this, I see her face go into the look she gets when she is painting. She is thinking about something very hard and it is nearly impossible to get her attention. So I wait for her to rejoin the living.

After a moment or two, her eyes dart back to me and she says, "No. I don't trust him because I don't know him and I won't put all of my hope of getting Clary back into Jace."

"That's not what I was saying." The words are not coming out how I want them to. "I was just saying that there is someone working from the inside to get Clary back while we will work from the outside. I have had to stay here and help my pack for a while. Magnus, Alec Lightwood, Isabelle Lightwood, and Simon are all actively looking for her right now. They have been giving me periodic updates."

Jocelyn straightens up and blinks rapidly. "Wait. Did you just say Simon? Why..how is Simon here?"

I take a deep breath and tell her that we should probably sit while I fully explain everything.

 **-Jace**

It has been too long. After I ate the chicken last night, I waited and waited for Valentine to come back until I fell asleep. I woke up to him bringing in breakfast. Some oatmeal and some fruit and a glass of milk. I asked him if I could see Clary and he just replied with, "We'll see. It all depends on her." I asked him what he meant but he just ignored me and left the room. I ate the oatmeal quickly then drank all of my milk and ate my fruit. Valentine never liked for me to waste food, so I make sure I eat everything. I just need to keep him happy long enough for me to see Clary.

I am finishing my last bite of fruit when I hear a commotion that sounds like it is coming from below me. I quickly flatten my ear to the floor and hear grunting and a crash. Then I hear a booming voice that is sure to be Valentine's. I don't hear anything after that although I continue to keep my head on the floor.

I don't know how much time has passed, but it feels like a long time, when the door open up to reveal Valentine again. I quickly jump up off of the floor and brush myself off. He doesn't like it when I am dirty.

"What are you doing on the floor, Jace?" He looks down at me indignantly.

"I heard something. Is Clary okay?" I ask him.

I can see him think about something and I can tell he is amused. "Oh, Clarissa is just fine. She is quite a lively one. She seems like a lot to handle." He looks at me then. "Do you think you can handle her?" I can tell by his tone that he isn't just asking me playfully. Something else is laced in with his question. If I hadn't spent so much time learning how to decipher his face and his tone as a child, I wouldn't have heard what he was implying. He wants to know if I can keep her under control. To control her for him.

I look at him directly in the eyes and straighten by back. "I know I can." I tell him.

"Good. I will take you to see her now." He turns to leave and I know he expects me to follow him. But before he makes it out of the room, he turns around and looks back at me. "If you plan to truly stay here with me and Clarissa, because she is not going anywhere, then you and Jonathan will have to get along. I know it may be difficult at first, but this is not a request. Do you understand me?"

At the mention of Jonathan's name, I go rigid. The thought of being in the same room as him and _not_ killing him makes me tense and angry in a way that I didn't think was possible for me to feel. Valentine looks down and sees my clenched fists and looks pointedly at them. I relax them and tell him the truth. Lying never got me anywhere with him.

"It will be very hard, but I am willing to try for Clary's sake." I take a deep breath and try to remember why I am here.

Valentine nods his head and replies with a simple, "Good to hear it." and leads me out of the door. I instantly scan my surroundings trying to memorize the place and find potential exits. The hall with my room has two more doors. One we don't pass by and the other door is shut as we walk by. I am thinking that these are probably other bedrooms. "I assume that this is the apartment that Clary told me about?" I say to him as we start descending a glass staircase. "The one that moves around and has a hidden door?" We reach the bottom of the stairs by then and land in a living room.

"Yes. This is where I like to stay when I travel. It is very convenient." Valentine says.

We turn back in the direction we were descending the stairs in and start walking towards another hall. That is when my eyes rake over a younger version of Valentine. He is standing in the corner of the kitchen with his arms crossed over his chest and he is glaring daggers at me. I realize that this is Jonathan as his hair is no longer black. I can't help it. My body tenses, ready for action, and my jaw flexes. Valentine stops abruptly not hearing my footsteps behind him anymore and turns back to look between me and Jonathan.

"I see you two have spotted each other." I know he wants me to look at him when he is talking, but I can't tear my gaze away from Jonathan. "Jace, this is your brother, Jonathan." Valentine says nonchalantly. Jonathan pushes off of the wall and spits out, "He is no brother of mine." though his teeth.

"I couldn't agree more." I say back to him.

Valentine sighs heavily. "That is enough between the two of you." He looks from me to him making sure that we nod in agreement when really all I am doing is thinking of ways to kill him. Maybe with a knife to the heart. Or an arrow to the throat like he did with Hodge.

"Where are you taking him, Father?" Jonathan asks Valentine.

Valentine looks genuinely annoyed at this question. "I am taking him to see Clarissa; not that it concerns you."

Jonathan immediately locks his sights on Valentine and walks purposely towards him. "I don't think that is a good idea, Father." When he says this, I can hear the anger laced in his voice.

Valentine snaps his eyes back to his son and narrows them angrily at him. "I don't recall asking your advice on the subject, Jonathan."

I can see a vein in Jonathan's neck twitch when he says this to him. I can also see the great amount of effort Jonathan puts into stepping away from Valentine and walking away to the living room. Valentine watches him, not turning his back to Jonathan, until he sits on one of the couches. When he feels like he isn't a threat anymore, Valentine turns and starts leading me back towards the small hallway. Right at the beginning of it, there is a door that seems to be our destination. Everything in that moment falls away. I know that Clary is probably on the other side of that door and my body feels it too. My heart beat jumps into a frantic pace and I feel the butterflies in my stomach and my hands are curling in and out reflexively.

Valentine approaches the door and slowly waves his hand across the door. I assume that he is taking whatever spell he has on it off. He grabs the door knob and as he swings it open, I move to stand behind him so I can see what he sees. The door opens to reveal Clary sitting on the edge of her bed with her hand over her right cheek. She looks up with fear in her eyes as she only sees him standing in the door. Valentine steps aside and her eyes light up in the most beautiful way when she sees me and stands while saying my name like a prayer. Neither of us makes a move toward each other, waiting for Valentine's permission. I stand there just looking at the most beautiful being in the world with bated breath while he just sits there and looks in between us, gauging our reaction to each other. After a moment, I see him from the corner of my vision make a sweeping motion for me to go in and I take large purposeful steps into her room and I scoop her up in my arms.

"Clary, Clary, Clary." I whisper in her ear as I bury my face in the crook of her neck. It is the most amazing feeling in the world to have her in my arms. I suddenly feel like I can breathe again. I hear the door shut behind me, but I don't spare a glance in that direction. I set her down and pull away to look at her. When I do, I see that she has tears running down her cheeks and a large red mark that is forming a bruise on the right side of her face. There is a small trickle of blood that has almost dried and a cut high on her cheek bone from where it came from. I don't know who did this, but they will pay for hurting her.


	18. Chapter 18

**-Clary**

The throbbing in my face is intense. I go to the bathroom a short while after Valentine handed down his punishment by backhanding me to inspect the damage. I have a cut on my cheekbone from where the impact from the Morgenstern ring collided with my face and busted my skin open. The whole side of my face is red, quickly turning into blue and purple. I am glad that I have this, though. With every throb I remind myself that it wasn't Jace who suffered this punishment. I know that it would have been a lot worse if I had not provided that second rune. He told me he wants me to keep focusing on it to try and unlock what it does. So I look into the mirror with pride, wearing my bruise like a badge. I would take this over and over if it keeps Jace out of harm.

I go and sit on the edge of my bed facing the door and cup my hand on my face. I jerk my head up as I hear my door opening. I thought I would be left alone for a while after Valentine handed down his punishment. He pushes open the door and then I glance site of Jace standing behind him. "Jace!" I shout in a sort of sigh. He looks back at me and his eyes alight with fire. I want to run to him and throw my arms around his sculpted body, but we both stay where we are waiting for Valentine to give the okay. After glancing back and forth between us, Jace and I never breaking eye contact, Valentine makes a sweeping gesture granting Jace permission to enter. He takes long and steady strides into the room and scoops me up into his embrace and buries his face into my neck. I can hear him saying my name like a soothing mantra.

After a minute of him just holding me, I pull back so I can look at his beautiful face. He looks down at me and his eyes fall to the bruise and cut on my face. I move to cover my face with my hand, but Jace beats me to it. He places his hands gently on either side of my face and gently rubs his thumb across my injured cheek and I can't help but close my eyes and lean into his hand. While he is holding my face he asks me who did this to me. I place my hands over his on my face and look up at him.

"It's nothing. Valentine was punishing me for trying to escape." When I tell him this, my voice is soft and longing. I have needed him for so long, and now he is here with me.

Jace looks annoyed with what I said and dips his head to where his eyes are level with mine. "It is not nothing, Clary. That bruise looks awful."

I can see the concern in his eyes when he tells me this. "No. It's really okay, Jace. I kind of deserved it. After all, I did stab Jonathan in the shoulder with a spoon." I small humorless smile crosses my lips as I recall it. Jace's eyes light up with at first, disbelief, then humor laced with admiration.

"You stabbed Jonathan with a spoon?" He says with surprise. I nod my head. "How is that even possible, Clary?" He sweeps me into another tight hug as he laughs. I wrap my arms around him and dig my fingers into his shirt, bunching it in my fists. His laughing continues and he pulls me gently away and looks down at me. "I absolutely love you, Clary. Do you know that? You are purely amazing." I smile up at him while he brings his mouth down to mine and kisses me deeply. I bring my arms up and place them around his neck, burying my fingers in his hair. His mouth parts and his tongue asks my lips for entrance. I part my lips and greedily take him in and his tongue feels so good in my mouth. His hands run down my back and his hands hungrily grab my backside and squeeze, making a shocked moaning sound come from my throat.

We break apart slightly when we hear a loud angry scream and then something being thrown and breaking out in the house. Jace still has one of his hands on my rear and he is looking back towards the door in confusion as his other hand goes to his non-existent weapons belt. I know exactly who it is. Jace turns back and looks at me questioningly and I glance away, knowing that Jonathan was watching us and is now furious because of Jace kissing and touching me. He sees that I know what is going on and turns all of his attention to me. "Clary." he says, "What is going on? I can see in your face that you know what that was."

Damn Jace for knowing me so well. I quickly have and internal debate with myself trying to decide if I should tell him about Jonathan's sick obsession with me. I know if I do, Jace will go into a rage and will probably try to kill him the moment he sees him again and I don't want that to happen. As good as a shadownhunter I know Jace is, I also know that Jonathan is just as good, if not better. He is propelled into something super-human with the demon blood that races in his veins. I step back and sit on the bed, pulling him with me, and grab one of Jace's hands and clasp it in between mine as his other hand comes up and moves my hair back from my face. "Clary." he whispers softly. "You can tell me anything. You know that, right?"

I sigh heavily with the weight of the knowledge on my shoulders. "I know Jace. It's just that I don't know if telling you will hurt you or not. Physically and emotionally because it will make you angry, and you do stupid things when you are angry." I look up into his eyes to see his reaction to my words. "You fly off the handle, not thinking about consequences and I can't stand it if you were to do that and get yourself hurt, or even killed."

He looks back at me with concern laced into every inch of his posture and face. "You have to promise me, Jace, that if I tell you, you won't fly off in a rage and do something stupid."

Jace moves forward and sits down on the bed next to me while I am still holding one of his in both of mine and nods. He looks really concerned and I know I am going to tell him. I don't want to keep anything from him when he looks at me like he is. His eyes when they look at me make me feel like I am the only person that he has ever seen and ever will see ever again. So, here goes nothing.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes for a moment while I try to steady myself. "Do you remember when Ithuriel showed us the visions of what Valentine has done?" I ask him.

He was obviously taken by surprise with my question, expecting to hear about the crash and scream he heard outside of the door. I have to start from the beginning if it is going to make sense to him. "Yes, I remember." Jace says with confusion.

"Well, I know what he did with the demon's blood." I look into his eyes to see his reaction, but he betrays nothing so I can continue. "He gave it to my mother when she was pregnant with Jonathan." Jace's eyes widen with pure shock and horror. "My brother...that is why he is the way he is." I take another deep breath to steady myself for the most uncomfortable part of my confession. "He has demon blood running through his veins...and that is why he feels the way he feels towards me." I cast my eyes down wondering if he will understand what I am saying.

My hopes that he will understand are dashed when he gently grabs my chin and pulls my face back up to his while his eyes bore into mine. "What are you talking about? Feels what way?" Jace asks.

Dammit. I was hoping to not have to say it out loud because that makes it more real. More tangible. "Jonathan doesn't have normal brotherly feelings towards me. He...he wants...he believes we belong together." I look into Jace's eyes, willing him to understand with no such luck. Ugh. Why did he have to pick now to be so dense? "He wants to be _with_ me, like you and I are."

I see it then. Fast and furious. The white hot rage and disgust and fierce protectiveness all race across his face in a matter of milliseconds. He stands up quickly and angrily runs his fingers through his hair while he clenches his other hand into a tight fist, making his knuckles look like they are going to burst out of his skin. "He _WHAT_?!" he gets out through his clenched jaw.

He starts pacing angrily and I stand up and grab his shirt front with one hand and bring my other to place on the side of his face. "Hey. Hey. Calm down, Jace." I pull his face down so I can look into his raging golden eyes and they immediately soften. "You said you wouldn't get mad."

"I never said that, Clary." he say fervently. "You told me I couldn't fly off of the handle. I never promised I wouldn't get mad."

I look up at him and raise my eyebrows and give him a knowing look saying that he is starting to fly off the handle. He is angrily pacing and breathing heavily and has a crazed look in his eyes. I know he is plotting ways to seriously maim or kill Jonathan as we speak. He stops his pacing for a second and turns to look at me, seeming to think about something.

"How do you know he feels this way towards you? Did he tell you outright?" Jace asks with intensity.

Crap. How do I answer his question without making him more angry and without lying. "Well, um, kind of." Dammit. 'Way to go, Clary. That's all you could come up with?' I think to myself. Jace isn't buying it either.

"What does that mean, Clary?" he asks me while giving me a look of suspicion. "He either did or he didn't tell you."

I figure I should make him sit down for this so I pull him back to the bed for the second time and take a deep breath before I speak...again. "At first he would just make little comments like 'we are supposed to be together' and 'he and I are one'. I thought he was just talking about us being brother and sister. And then...I didn't think that." I break eye contact with Jace feeling extremely uncomfortable telling him this and I won't be able to do it while looking in his eyes. "And then I caught him looking at me and when we were training, he would always find reasons to press his body up against mine." I shift uncomfortably while I prepare myself to tell him when my suspicions were fully confirmed. "When I got back here...this time...he..." I really don't want to say it, "he pinned me up against a wall and kissed me."

When Jace doesn't move or say anything, I look up at him and see that his face is bright red and I don't think he is breathing. His hands are shaking and I can feel the extreme tension and anger rolling off of him in waves. "Jace?" I place my hands on either side of his face. "Jace? You have to breath. Take a deep breath and calm yourself." He takes a breath and he stands up and walks over to the opposite wall and stands looking at it, hiding his face from me. He brings one hand up to his waist absentmindedly like he is going for his weapons belt and when he finds it not there, he just puts it on his hip. The other has come up to cup the back of his neck and I can see that his knuckles are white from gripping his neck. Maybe I shouldn't have told him.

I stand up and walk to him and wrap my arms around his waist, pressing my face and chest against his back and wait for him to ride out his anger as we both just stand there in silence. It takes a few minutes before I can feel his body relax and he turns around and returns my hug, enclosing me in his arms and resting his cheek on the top of my head. "I am so sorry that happened to you, Clary." he says in a whisper.

"It's not your fault. I don't even really think it's Jonathan's fault." Jace tenses and pulls me away to arm's length to look me in the eyes.

"Why would you say that?" he says more as a statement than a question.

"Because Valentine gave him demon blood and it turned him into something 'other'." I explained to Jace. He is still holding my by my shoulders at arm's length. "Do you remember what Ithuriel said?" Jace nods his head. "He said that it would burn out his humanity. He doesn't understand that his want towards me is wrong. I think that he is more lonely than anything. Then hear I come along and I am the only person, I think, to ever show him love and kindness from the start." Jace breaks his eye contact and drops his hands from my shoulders and moves them to take my hands in his.

"No matter what the reason is behind it, he should never lay his hands on you in any way that you don't want him to." As Jace is saying this, his voice grows in frustration and anger. I move quickly to calm him and wrap my arms around his neck and pull him to me.

"No, he shouldn't." I say as I bury my face in his shoulder. "All I am saying is that I think I understand why he feels the way he does. Not that it is okay."

Jace seems to sigh and relax into me. "You are the most understanding, amazing person in the world. How do I ever deserve you?"

I roll my eyes even though he can't see them. "What is it with you and him telling me how wonderful I am? I am just ordinary. Just me. It's not like I found a cure to cancer or anything." I give a slight chuckle at my own little joke and the absurdity of what he is telling me.

He pulls back and dips his head to look straight into my eyes placing his hands on either side of my face. "Clarissa Adele Fray or Fairchild or Morgenstern or whatever you want to be called," I give a small breathy laugh at him. "you are _anything_ but ordinary." He pulls me into an unexpected passionate kiss and I seem to forget who and where I am. I instantly melt into him like every other time he has kissed me and before I know it, he has pushed me back to the bed and is crashing down on top of me. I slip my hands into the arms of his short sleeve shirt and run them all the way onto his back, feeling his muscles flex as he holds himself up from putting all of his weight on me. Feeling this along with his fiery, passionate kissing, makes an involuntary moan slip from my mouth and it seems to drive Jace crazy.

He stands up quickly, grabbing my hips and throwing me further onto the bed and pulls his shirt from his body. I don't think there will ever be a time where the site of Jace shirtless won't take my breath away and not make me ache in between my thighs. He practically launches himself onto the bed and lands on top of me and slides my shirt up with his hands while moving up my stomach with hot wet kisses. I greedily grab his face and bring his lips up to mine and he slips his tongue into my mouth while reaching around to unclasp my bra. That's when I get an eerie feeling and I pull away from his lips with a jerk. I remember Jonathan telling me how he watched me with Jace.

He raises up and looks at me with his brows furrowed. "Is that not okay?" he asks me.

I push him up and pull down my shirt and shake my head. "I feel like someone is watching me. I haven't been able to even go to the bathroom since Jonathan told me he used the Spy rune to see me in the Penhallow's bed the morning after we..." I realize what I have just said and that the blood is draining out of his face as he remembers that I was naked the morning after our first time. I didn't mean to tell him that. I curse at myself inwardly. Jace jumps up and grabs his shirt and angrily pulls it back on him and walks up to the wall next to the door and pounds three times on it, hard enough for a small crack to form in the plaster, and yells "Valentine!"

"Jace! What are you doing?" I whisper yell at him. Has he lost his mind?! I don't know much about my father, but I can guarantee that he doesn't like to be summoned by his children. "You are going to make him mad."

He swings his head back around to look at me. "I don't care, Clary. He has to control Jonathan. You can't live in fear of your own brother watching you showering or doing...other things." He turns back to the wall and pounds on it again when the door swings open to reveal Valentine.

A small smirk forms on his face before he says, "Have you two grown tired of each other already?" while looking back and forth between us. "And you can call me father like you always have." Valentine looks at Jace pointedly. The way he says the last thing lets him know that he really doesn't have a choice in the matter.

Jace's eyes spark at this as forces the words out through his clenced jaw. "Father," he says, his voice laced with and undercurrent of loathing, "Clary has been afraid to even go to the bathroom for fear of Jonathan using the Spy rune to watch her. There is something you need to know about him and..." Valentine raises his hand to halt Jace talking.

"Clarissa has already told me of her concerns." Valentine says cooly. He turns his head towards me and I can see the annoyance in his eyes. "I did not expect you to tell Jace about this. I was hoping you would spare him since I said I would handle it." He narrows his eyes at me like I am some kind of mold. "I was hoping for Jace and Jonathan to get along and you have placed another obstacle in their path to brotherhood."

I can see that Jace is very annoyed with Valentine's annoyance with me. Jace's voice comes out angry and bitter when he says, "She has done nothing wrong by voicing her concerns to me. Jonathan has already placed an immovable obstacle in our relationship by killing my little brother."

I gasp at having my worst fears confirmed. Max. Jonathan killed little Max. I was going to take him to the comic book store and teach him all about Naruto. He reminded me so much of Simon when he was that age with his huge glasses and awkward from his multiple growth spurts. A tear slips from my eye as I see the pain in Jace's eyes. He hasn't broken eye contact with Valentine yet and they both seem unwilling to be the first one to look away.

"Jace," Valentine says cooly, "that was an accident. Jonathan has explained what happened while he was bringing your sister back."

"First of all," Jace says with malice, "Clary is not my sister. Second, does that mean I can kill Jonathan if it is an 'accident?'"

I know what is going to happen half way through Jace's rant and I brace myself for it. Valentine pulls his hand back and brings it across Jace's face with amazing force and his head is snapped to the side while rage rolls across my father's face.

"I see that your time away from me has made you forget that you _will not_ speak to me that way." Valentine's rage has come to the surface and it causes me to shrink away from him. Jace brings his eyes back up to Valentine's and gives him a steely look as his fists clench and unclench at his side. "Speak to me like that again and I will have to punish Clarissa for your mistakes." I can see the war of emotions running through his eyes. Anger, fear, rage, understanding, then finally resignation. Jace doesn't speak; only nods his head in understanding.

Valetine's mouth twitches like he wants to smile, but holds it back. "Very good." His posture relaxes slightly. "I think you two have had enough time together."

I stand up and reach out and open my mouth to protest, but Jace turns his head towards me and gives it a small shake as to say, 'now is not the time to complain'.

My father turns and looks at me. "I will take Jonathan's stele away for one hour. That gives you more than enough time to shower and get dressed." He turns back to Jace and he steps away from him and takes the few steps to me and gives me a quick kiss and then turns and leaves the room. Valentine looks thoroughly annoyed, but decides not to say anything for whatever reason. They both disappear to the other side of the door and I sit in shock of everything that has just happened. The first thing I think of is Max. Poor Jace and Izzy and Alec. He was too young. Too innocent. I let myself wallow in the tragedy of it for a few minutes, silently crying for the pain that is happening all around me to everyone I love. I feel so powerless like I should be able to stop it but can't.

I wipe the tears from my face and move to the bathroom. I feel like I have an extra layer of grime over my skin because I can't remember the last time I had a shower. I have no idea what day it is or even the time of day being locked into this windowless room. I am certainly not going to take a shower while my brother has use of a stele. When that thought crosses my mind, I realize that I can't stop him from using a stele every time I go to the bathroom or take a shower or when I am 'intimate' with Jace. I suddenly feel sick thinking that I will never be able to feel at peace and comfortable at any moment while I am 'vulnerable'. That is, unless someone kills him.

- **-Jonathan**

I watched Father walk back upstairs to his room after he let golden boy into Clary's room. That bastard! _I_ am the one she needs. Not him. She just doesn't realize it yet, but she will. Father even had the audacity to tell me not to spy on them. Told me not to use the rune _I_ told her to create to see her. I only want to look at her. I just want and need her so much. He doesn't understand that. Screw him!

I pull out my stele and draw the rune that finally sealed my love for her; for she is just as powerful as me. The shimmering gives way to her fiery hair and a small smile on her beautiful pouty lips. I groan as I feel myself getting excited at the thought of those lips on me. She has a giant bruise forming on the side of her perfect face where Father "punished" her. I will make sure he has one just like it before I slit his throat for hurting what is mine. Only I can do that. She is smiling seductively and my pants grow even tighter. Then, that is when I see what she is looking at that is making her smile like that. That _damn_ golden boy again. He takes everything away from me.

I watch as she leans into him and stretches on the tip of her toes to reach her hands around his neck as he leans down to put his disgusting lips on hers. I immediately feel the demon inside of me clawing to come out. I watch as his greedy hands slide down her back and he grabs her butt eliciting a moan from her lips and I can't freaking take it anymore. I grab the lamp off of the table and throw it against the wall and watch as is smashes into a million pieces. Similar to how I will cut Jace into a million pieces.

I start to stomp my way to her room so I can rip his arms off of him so he will never lay another hand on her when Father appears at the bottom of the stairs. I barely give him any of my attention until I feel his hand grasp my shoulder. I dip to move it off and spin with my fist balled, ready to break his face in two, when he freezes my motion with his cowardly magic. I manage to get a few words out of my mouth. "Let me go, father."

"I told you not to watch them, Jonathan. That you would not like what you would see." Father shakes his head in mock disappointment. His favorite past time is being right. " _This_ ," he gestures to my raging state of mind, "is why told you not to. I knew you would not be able to resist trying to kill him. You have forgotten that Jace is who she wants in her bed. Not you."

My vision is turning red and there is ringing begining to grow louder in my ears. I can feel the demon in me is only a paper's width from breaking the surface. "Not for long." I tell him through my frozen jaw using up the last of my breath. He loosens his hold so I can suck in a tiny breath.

"Is it time to visit the cellar, Jonathan?" Father says sneering at me. All of the muscles in me tense as the memory of what happens in the cellar jump to the forefront of my mind. The demon metal whip wouldn't be so bad if it were not for the dozens of other demon metal whip scars that still hold a steady throb. When he brings the whip down on top of those other scars, it is almost enough to make me pass out. Father would consider that a weakness and whip me even more for it. I have to bide my time to plan my takeover.

I swallow and force my demon back down into my soul and say, "No, Father. That is not necessary." He releases me and I take a deep breath. I hate being without air and Father knows it. That is why he freezes me. Father takes a few steps back the way he came and gestures to the staircase. "Jonathan, why don't you go take your frustrations out in the training room?"

"Yes, Father." I tell him as I walk past him and up the stairs. I will have a face in mind for all of the training dummies that I will be dismembering and stabbing. The golden boy with his greedy freaking hands. I am going to kill him the first chance I get.


	19. Chapter 19

**-Luke**

Jocelyn was surprised that so much had changed in the short amount of time that she was sleeping. She was also shocked to find out about Clary's rune ablities and I was shocked to find out the reason behind it. Valentine had told her that he had given her angel blood before she left him, not knowing that she was pregnant with Clary. He had also given the same angel blood to Celine Herondale while she was pregnant with Jace. I was even more surprised to find out that Jace _was_ Stephen and Celine Herondale's son. She had killed herself while she was still pregnant and Hodge had cut him out of her stomach so as not to waste his "experiment". There was no end to Valentine's evil.

Both Jocelyn and I looked up as a man, the Consul Malachai Dieudenne, cleared his throat and called the room to attention from the center of the dais. "I think it is time we put this nonsense to a vote. Valentine has an endless army of demons at his command and all he wants is our loyalty to his cause. He is a shadowhunter like us. He doesn't want to kill us. I think he just wants us to remember why we were put here by Raziel. To rid the world of demons. Maybe getting rid of the demon's offspring and viruses is what we are meant to do anyway."

The room started to rumble with people talking when I turned and looked at Jocelyn. She looked up at Malachai on the dais with pure fury and that's when I saw here lose her patience. She started shoving through the crowd, making her way up to the dais to where Malachai stood. I saw a lot of people look at Jocelyn with pure shock on their faces while others either looked at her with pure hatred or complete indifference. Not everyone was expected to know that she was Valentine's wife. To everyone in the Clave, she had died with the fire that killed Valentine and their child.

She reached the dais and someone extended out a hand to grab her and stop her, but she was too quick. Apparently, even though she had quit being a shadowhunter over 16 years ago, she could still flip a guy on his back; which is exactly what she did when this man tried to stop her. She stomped her way up the stairs and glared at Malachai with utter disgust and loathing before she turned to face the crowd of shadowhunters. 'What in the hell is she doing' I thought to myself. This woman was constantly keeping me guessing and I loved it. She searched the crowd for a second before her eyes found mine and she seemed to decide something then as her expression changed.

"I know what all of you are thinking." Jocelyn said when someone shouted out, "Traitor!" Jocelyn closed her eyes for a second and then continued. When she opened her eyes, I saw a new fire that had been lit in them.

"Yes, I am Jocelyn Fairchild...Morgenstern. Valentine Morgenstern is technically still my husband who I have spent the last 16 years hiding from. I helped stop the Uprising and prevented him from taking over the Clave. And in return, he set fire to my home and killed my parents and led me to believe he burned our son in the fire too. I knew that he was still alive because he was too selfish and arrogant to kill himself. He wouldn't let some meek little woman, who happened to be his wife, stop him from getting what he wanted. And what he wants is power. He doesn't want to rid the world of demons or 'cleanse' the world of the demon's offspring. All he has ever wanted was power. Power to wield over every living soul in this world so he could do what he pleases."

She stopped for a moment scanning the crowd with her gaze before she began again. "I spent all of this time hiding myself and our daughter from him because I knew what he would do. He had never cared about me or either of our children. I have absolutely no do doubt that he would kill his own children if they got in his way. I abandoned everything, _everything_ , to get away from him. I abandoned my home, my family, my friends...I even abandoned myself. I left behind who I was; who I am. I am Nephilim. I abandoned everything to get away from this man. Not because I was afraid of him, but because I had to protect my daughter and I had to hide the Mortal Cup from him. I left and went into hiding because I knew his plan was to destroy _all_ of the Nephilim that were here on earth and start over with a new race of Nephilim that was loyal solely to him."

Jocelyn's eyes were fierce and her voice was commanding. You could have heard a feather drop and hit the floor. She finished sweeping her gaze around the room and began again. "What makes you think he has changed his mind? The fact that he is so kind and forgiving? Or was it the fact that he sent and army of demons to kill _YOUR CHILDREN_ while you were here at the Guard having a council meeting? He will stop at _nothing_ till he gets what he wants and he will kill all of us to get it without even batting an eye."

Every single pair of eyes in the room was on her. Especially mine. She was purely the most incredible and beautiful creature in the entire universe and I have never loved her more. Her fierceness and her passion and her love for her family was what made me fall in love with her over and over again.

"You can't just surrender because you are afraid of dying at the hands of demons. You can't fool yourselves either into thinking that he won't kill all of you anyway just to create a race that is loyal to him, because I can guarantee that that is exactly what he will do. I beg of you to put aside your stubbornness and pride and accept the help of the downworlders. They are our only hope of survival because they have just as much to lose as us. Oh, and remember as you are discussing your choice, how many of your children died in the demon raid tonight because of him. Do you really want to follow someone who would strategically plan to kill defenseless children in their own beds? You _cannot_ , and should not ever trust him to keep his word. He never has and he never will."

Jocelyn turned and started to walk off of the dais and the crowd parted for her this time, making her way back to me. I stood there, watching her walk to me and when she was close enough (only a few people in between us), I locked eyes with her. I was more in love with her than ever. She had stood up in front of all of the shadowhunters and told them to stop being such cowards. She was brave and selfless and unbelievably beautiful. So beautiful, that my heart gave a little awkward thump when I looked at her.

She pushed her way past the last person and stood in front of me with a strange look in her eyes. Before she said anything, I had to tell her proud I was of her for being so brave to get up there and do that. To put aside all of her fears and worry of being rejected or embarrassed or hated and told them what they needed to hear. "Jocelyn, what you did..."

She held out her hand to silence me so she could speak. "You know, Luke, when I was standing up there and saw you looking at me up on that dais, I realized something. Something that I have repressed for years because I am so stupid and so blind."

'What on earth is she talking about' I thought to myself. "You, Jocelyn, are anything _but_ stupid and blind." I tell her but she holds up her hands and shakes her head to tell me to be quiet again.

"What I realized was," Jocelyn started to say in a quiet voice as she stepped closer to me. She looked up to me and brought her arms up and wrapped them around my neck. I was too startled to move while she continued speaking, "that I have been in love with you for my entire life and I never realized it until just then. Up there, looking down at you looking at me."

Is this really happening? Is this just a horribly mean spirited dream? I was officially dumbfounded. She started to lift herself on her toes and closed her eyes as she lightly pressed her lips against mine. They were soft and warm and everything I have ever dreamed they would be and more. I lost myself then and hastily wrapped my arms tightly around her waist and squeezed a startled noise out of her mouth and into mine. I drug one hand up her back and into her long fiery red hair pressing her lips harder into mine. My tongue reached out and asked her lips for entrance which she quickly gave. No dream I had ever had about this moment could have compared to how it actually felt to have her in my arms and kissing me.

She pressed her body up against mine and pushed her hands into my shaggy brown hair while the kiss took on a wild quality. I suddenly felt like it was only the two of us in the entire room. Our tongues were caressing each other's and our breathing was heavy. After a few seconds of frantic kissing, she pulled back and her eyes lit up like I had never seen before and a shy smile spread across her lips. I had no idea what look was on my face as a question entered my head. "How did you know that I was in love with you? Have you known all of these years?" I asked her. I had to know.

Her smile widened immensely at my question before she answered. "I had no idea how you felt about me. I took a gamble by kissing you and telling you that I loved you. I didn't want to lose my nerve so I just...did it. Without thinking about the consequences." She looks down and gives a small laugh before she said, "I guess I know where Clary gets _that_ from."

I couldn't help but give a small laugh back before I pulled her back into me and kissed her with renewed feeling. Knowing that she loved me and wanted to be with some downworlder, other people's opinions be damned, was the most euphoric feeling in the world. I pulled back after a minute and put both of my hands on either side of her face while her arms reached around my waist, locking together behind my back, and I said, "Now it's time to go help find our daughter."

The smile she gave back to me could have lit up all of New York in that moment. "Yes," she replied, "let's go get _our_ daughter." and she reached up to lightly kiss me again before tugging me through the doors of the Hall.

 **-Clary**

I turned on the water for the shower and said a tiny little prayer that Valentine really was going to take away Jonathan's stele away so I could get clean. I looked into the mirror and placed my hand over the bruise on my cheek once again and sighed. 'I am so glad it wasn't Jace' I reminded myself. I stepped back away from the mirror and took my clothes off and tossed them onto the floor. They smelled and I was in desperate need of a good scrubbing and clean clothes. Someone had put some of my clothes on the back of the toilet when I got back, but I never changed into them for fear of Jonathan spying on me.

I stepped into the shower letting the water run down my tense and sore body. I leaned my head back into the water and let it soak my hair as I rubbed my neck. It felt like a knot had permanently placed itself there since my return here. 'I wonder what Jace is doing right now' I ask myself. I wonder if he is taking a shower too. I can see it now. The hot water running down his washboard abs making its way down to the deep 'V' his abdomen made. The water would run down into the indentions in his muscles, trailing down onto his... before cascading down to the drain. I can see his muscles roll under his skin as he moves to lather up his body and I can feel his slippery skin under my fingers if I think hard enough. I remember what it felt like when Jace had his hands all over my body and was touching me in all of my sensitive places.

I trail my hands down my own body like Jace had done before. I can see him in the shower with me; water dripping from his hair and into his eyes as he looks at me seductively. I can hear him saying my name as his body shudders in under my hands. I can feel one of his hands on my body and his touch is driving me senseless. Before I know it, I have shocked myself by my actions.

I open my eyes, which had been squeezed shut in concentration of the fantasy, and looked down at myself in surprise. I had never done that before and I was surprised that I even knew how. I just couldn't help it when the thought of Jace in the shower, the water running down his perfect body... "That's enough Clary." I say out loud to myself and I finish my shower quickly. I don't know how much time has passed and I don't want to run over my allotted hour.

I step out and quickly dry off, hurrying to put my clothes on. I pulled my wet hair into a bun on top of my head and went back to sit on the bed. Not knowing what to do, I grabbed the pencil and paper that had been left in my room and begin to doodle. At first, it was just aimless lines as I let my mind drift to my first kiss with Jace. After a while, the lines started to form an apple tree in the distance while an apple with a bite taken out of it sat in the forefront of the paper.

Instead of stopping when I thought it was done, my hand pulled away from the paper of it's own accord and it felt like it was almost pushed away like a magnet. It surprised me. I had never felt like that before except with the..."Mortal Cup." I said aloud. I wonder...

There was a pull from inside my mind and I closed my eyes as I was drug into a vision... _I moved my hand to the corner of the paper and drew the rune that released the Mortal Cup to me from my mother's painting with a stele and pulled back and held my breath as the a wave rippled across the page before returning to what seemed like normal with the exception of the weight of the paper. It felt heavier. I took a deep breath and extended my hand_ into _the paper and felt the smoothness of the apple I had drawn and I gasped. I pulled my hand back, grasping the apple, and pulled it into reality. I looked down in my hands where the bitten into apple was and I was speechless._ My mind snaps back into reality and into my room. "What was that?" I whisper to myself. It was one thing to retrieve something that had been put into the paper; it was another thing to draw something out of nowhere and pull it into existence. I had to get my hands on a stele to try it out. But how?

I stood up and walked to the wall and pounded my fist against it and shouted, "Vale...Father!" Maybe if I called him Father, his heart would be softened towards me. It was a serious long shot, but I had to at least try. "Father!" I waited for what seemed like 5 minutes and I began to give up. I moved away from the door and sat back on my bed, Indian style, and sighed in defeat. I looked at my drawing and that's when I saw the door open and Valentine stepped through it.

"I am growing tired of being summoned by my own children." Valentine said annoyed. "What is it now, Clarissa?"

He was obviously not in a good mood so I had to tread lightly. "Well," I said looking down, "I know that you will probably say no, but I was wondering if I could maybe...have a stele?"

'Man, I have really got to work on subtlety' I thought to myself. I was absolutely horrendous at it.

Valentine scoffed before he chuckled lightly. "What makes you think that I would be so dumb as to let you _anywhere_ near a stele?"

"Because you have Jace." I said matter of factly. "I can't portal in and out of here and I wouldn't want to while you have Jace. I would _never_ leave him or risk his safety and there is no way I can get to him through your electrified doors." A chill ran down my body as I thought about it shocking me earlier. "I also know that the only reason I am hear is because I can create runes and you want to use my ability to your advantage. I also know that making you runes is key to me seeing Jace."

I chance a look up at him and see that his face is impassive except for the tiny imperceptible furrowing of his brows in concentration. He hasn't stopped me from speaking yet so I keep going. "I want to see him and be with him more than anything in the world and the only way I can do that is by pleasing you. I have a few runes dancing around in my head and I would like to give them a try but I can't do that without a stele. Making runes can be tricky and I was wanting to try them out before I presented them to you. To figure out what their purpose is."

I can see the twinkling in his eyes when I said I had a few more runes. 'This is the key' I tell myself. "But I do want something in exchange for the runes." I lift my head up and straighten my back to command his attention.

"And what might that be?" Valentine asks in his annoyed and yet somehow arrogant voice.

"All I want is to see Jace. Spend more time with him. Oh, and some art supplies." I gesture to the picture I drew. "I thought of a new rune while I was drawing. It helps relax my mind and the runes come more freely to me."

Valentine eyes the paper and zeroes in on the rune in the corner of the paper. "What does that rune do?" he asks while pointing to it.

"I have no idea yet." I lie smoothly. "That is why I was wanting the use of a stele." He hasn't taken his eyes off of the new rune yet and I can see his body is tense while at war with himself. I can see that he wants new runes so badly he can taste it while the other part of him is screaming not to let me anywhere near a stele. He should listen to that part, but I won't tell him that.

His jaw flexes before he opens his mouth to say, "You will have one hour a day with a stele. Myself or Jonathan will be watching you through the Spy rune throughout the entire hour to make sure you don't try anything. If either of us even suspect foul play, I will have Jace beaten with a demon metal whip. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Father." I reply.

Valentine turns and waves his hand over the door and opens it before he looks at me and says sternly, "I will be back later with a stele and art supplies for you." His eyes harden as they trap mine in an unbreakable gaze. "Do not make me regret my decision, Clarissa. Jace is not the only one I can easily hurt." and he walks out of the door and closes it behind him.

His threat of the rest of the people I love was a shock. I thought he would be satisfied with just threatening Jace but I should have known better. I hastily shake off the worry and climb back onto the bed, grabbing my pencil and paper. I sit back against the headboard, close my eyes and picture a dagger as my hand begins to glide across the paper.


	20. Chapter 20

**-Simon**

"Are you sure, Magnus? Maybe you could magic up a new spell that is better at tracking?" I asked him. Magnus looked at me like I was an idiot and responded with, "Yeah, sure, Simon. Why didn't I think of that in the first place?! The first ingredient is a virginal Daylighter's blood.." He was looking at me with his eyebrows raised, daring me to say something about his warlocking skills again.

Magnus was holding Clary's torn shirt that was left in the Penhallow's bedroom from the insanely short amount of time she was there. Apparently, she had stayed in here with Jace and every time someone would mention it, all of them would get this tiny little smile on their faces and look down. Like, what the hell is that about?

Alec looked at me tiredly. "It's not that easy, Simon. He can't just come up with a new spell."

I raise my hand up to my face to push my non-existent glasses up my nose out of years of habit and move to sit on the bed. It has been a solid 24 hours since she was taken and I am starting to get agitated because of the lack of progress. "I know, Alec." I say to him. "I'm sorry, Magnus. I know you are doing everything you can. I'm just really worried and stressed out and tired. Really, really tired." I scoot back further onto the bed and throw myself back, sinking into the expensive linens and close my eyes.

"You know Simon," Isabelle says from somewhere near my feet, "we haven't had time to change those sheets yet."

I open one eye and look at her while she smirks at me. "And..." I tell her. "I was just laying on a stone bench to sleep. I think I can handle sheets that someone else has slept in." I close my eyes again and turn my face to the side and bury my face in the comforter.

"Suit yourself, Simon." she says coyly. "But they didn't do much sleeping in those sheets."

My eyes snap open quickly and I sit up on the bed. "What do you mean by that Izzy?" I narrow my eyes at her, looking to decipher the meaning behind those words. Alec and Magnus turn their heads away slightly while Izzy raises her eyebrows at me and says, "Do I really have to spell it out for you?"

I turn and look at the bed when the realization hits me. I jump up and across the room with my vampire quickness and look at the bed with renewed eyes. She was implying they had sex. Clary and Jace had sex. In that bed. "How do you know, Isabelle, what they did?" I ask her accusingly.

Isabelle crosses her arms across her chest and I can see something flicker behind her eyes. Something reminiscent of hurt. "They weren't exactly quiet about it." she says snappily.

Even though my feeling towards Clary had changed, it still hurt that she had moved on so quickly with Jace and slept with him without us even having a breakup talk. I am suddenly angry and hurt and I storm out of the room. I knew she was in love with Jace, but I thought she was taking "us" seriously. I haven't seen her since right before Valentine's ship fell to pieces and as far as she was concerned, I was still madly in love with her and she just pushed me aside and slept with Jace.

I look up and realize that I am outside and it is too quiet. I want the sound of New York to comfort my senses. I stop my racing mind for a minute and take a few deep breaths and think. Why am I mad at her? She is my best friend and I want her to be happy. I had fully planned on breaking up with her and I was pretty sure she was going to sleep with Jace whether he was her brother or not. I was also pretty sure that I was starting to develop feeling for Izzy...but she would never go for me. So why was I mad?

I gathered my composure and walked back into the house to find Izzy sitting in the den. "Hey, sorry about that, Izzy. I think it was just the shock of it that took me by surprise."

She looks at her nails like there is something infinitely fascinating about them. "You didn't look surprised. You looked hurt." She looks up to me and connects her chocolate brown eyes with mine. "I thought you were over Clary. You said you weren't in love with her like that anymore."

I nervously run my hand through my hair. "I am." I think. "It was just the shock of it. I mean, she hasn't even talked to me and we haven't exactly had the break up talk." I take a few more steps into the den and sit on the arm of a couch across from her. "I just thought that maybe she would have waited out of respect for me."

Isabelle crosses her legs and leans further into her couch while assuming an air of indifference. "Did you really expect her to wait to be with the person she is clearly, madly in love with to have a talk with you, who was going to break up with her anyway?" She flips her hair behind her shoulder with the flip of her hand. "They have been in love since day one and she was just using you as a distraction."

"Ouch Izzy. Don't hold anything back." I stand up and leave the room wanting to get away from her. I don't know why she is lashing out like this. Apparently I was _really_ wrong about her liking me. Girls are so hard to figure out.

 **-Clary**

By the time Valentine opened my door, I had drawn two daggers and I was in the process of drawing a pair of throwing knives. I had committed myself to concentrating on runes and had drawn a few. One was for jumping really high and far. Another was amplifying your strength and one was for the stillness of whoever you touched. I knew what the meanings of the runes were, but Valentine didn't have to know that.

He looks down to the papers scattered on my bed. "I see that you have been busy." He walks over to the bed and picks up a drawing of one of the daggers and smiles to himself. "I also see that you have inherited this trait from your mother. She once painted a picture of her and I..." Valentine seems to snap out of it and shakes his head before letting the paper go and watching it fall back onto the bed. For a minute there, he almost looked like he actually loved her.

"Yes, Father. I have been drawing and that has helped me find these three runes." I pull out the paper from the bottom of the stack and hand it to him hoping that he will be pleased that I am doing what I have promised. When his eyes land on the paper, they glaze over and he can't help but smile full on this time.

"Do you know what these do?" he asks me without looking at me.

"Um, I think this one has to do with jumping very high and across long distances." I point to the correct one on the paper. "But I am not one hundred percent sure. I would want it to be tested first. The others, I am not sure. That one," I point to another one, "has something to do with movement; but I am not sure what yet." I sit back on the bed and look up innocently into his dark eyes and wait for him to meet my gaze. He turns his head and looks at me with a sort of fascination. It makes me slightly uncomfortable for him to look at me in any other way than with hatred and disgust at this point. "That is why I asked for a stele." I finish telling him.

"And how do you suppose that you try them? Are you going to try them on yourself?" He asks me.

"Not unless _you_ want to try them." I say as innocently as possible. I give him the best impression of doe eyes I can muster.

Valentine's mouth quirks up a little at the side before he says, "There is no way I am going to try a new rune on myself. You could come up with a death rune and kill me and I would be none the wiser." He looks at me skeptically. "No. I think it should be Jace or yourself to try out the new runes to make sure you behave yourself." He moves to the door and stands beside it with his hands folded together behind his back. "I will be back in an hour to collect you and the new runes. I will take you to see Jace for a while and then we will go to the training room to try out the new runes with a few of my most trusted guards. It will ensure that you will cooperate. If you try anything I even deem slightly out of the ordinary, I will not hesitate to put and arrow through Jace's heart." Valentine looks down at me coolly and gives me an icy stare, gauging my reaction. I keep my face completely impassive and nod while I say, "Of course, Father." He seems pleased with this reaction before he continues looking almost concerned. "I must warn you though, that Jonathan will be the one watching you as I have plenty of important business to attend to." He looks into my eyes and I can almost see the fatherly concern buried deep down in there. Almost.

I nod my head in understanding and he turns and leaves me in the room with a stele. The thought of Jonathan watching me sends a chill down my spine. I feel like I need to put on 5 extra layers of clothing...'wait a minute' I think to myself. This could actually work to my advantage. Jonathan would be much easier to distract than Valentine and allow me to retrieve the set of daggers and throwing knives from the pages. Although the thought of just _how_ to distract him makes me sick to my stomach, but I have to work with the options I am given.

I look down to what I am wearing and decide that it is not going to cut it for what I will need to do. I am wearing jeans and slightly baggy t-shirt. I will need something smaller. Tighter. And possible a bowl to puke in as I think about why I want these things.

After a minute of thought, a plan forms in my head and once again, I want to puke. I lay down on my stomach and quickly finish drawing the set of throwing knives and pick up the stele. I twirl it in my fingers, looking like I am contemplating something and I draw the rune on the paper that will allow me to pick up what is in my drawings on the corner of each paper. I try to hover over what I am doing as much as I can to try and shield the paper to the best of my ability. When I am done, I set my plan into action.

I roll over onto my back and pull my dried hair out of its bun and let it flare out above my head as I close my eyes and run my fingers through it. I reach down and pick up the pad of paper beside me and start to fan myself as though I am hot. I slowly raise my t-shirt up to expose my mid-drift and fan myself. I lay there for a few minutes before I sit up and say in a my normal speaking voice, "Jonathan, I know you are watching. Father told me it would be you. Listen, it is really hot in here and I was wondering if you could bring me some clothes to change into that weren't jeans. I feel like I am suffocating in these." I pull on my pants leg to show what I am talking about. "Maybe you could bring me a few options so I could have a few changes of clothes and I won't have to bother you and father as much."

I feel so stupid talking to an empty room, but if I know my brother, there is no way he will _not_ watch me when he has permission to do so. "Is there any way for you to tell me if you are getting me anything?" I ask. I suddenly hear his voice on the other side of the door.

"I will grab you some clothes, Clary. I will bring them right in, in a few minutes." Jonathan says it like a promise and it gives me the creeps. I shake it off and roll back over because I know I have limited time. I close my eyes in concentration and reach into the page with the throwing knives and I suddenly feel the cold metal and the sharpness of the point on the blade. I suck in a startled gasp and pull my hand back. When I do, I pull the knife out of the page and the drawing had come to life and is now resting comfortably in my hand. I stifle my shock and stick my hand back in and grab the second knife and quickly follow up with the two daggers. I jump off of the bed and lift up the mattress and stuff them under it because it is the only place to hide anything in this barren room.

Just as I am smoothing down the sheets, I see my door start to open to reveal Jonathan smiling wickedly and holding up a pile of clothes and once again, he is shirtless with his sweat pants riding low on his hips to expose his deep 'V' shape at the bottom of his abdomen. I make a conscious effort not to back away from him as he reaches out and hands me the pile of clothes. I step closer and grab the pile of clothes from him as he makes a movement to touch me and I recoil, backing up all the way to the bed. He seems to have thoroughly enjoyed this response and smiles widely at me.

"Don't be so jumpy, sister. I am only doing as you have asked me." He gives me what I think is supposed to be a seductive smile and I can see him lightly flex his muscles and I can't help but look down at the motion of his rolling muscles. His smile grows wider as he follows the gaze of my eyes. "Do you like what you see?" I snap my eyes back up to his face and he has his full on seductive smile plastered on his face while he ever so slightly bites his bottom lip. If he weren't my brother and a complete psychopath, I would have swooned. But he is my brother _and_ a complete psychopath so it just makes my stomach churn. I look away quickly and look down at the ground while a small chuckle escapes his lips.

"It's okay, dear sister. I am quite handsome. It is only a matter of time before you realize that we were made for each other." I say nothing and he seems satisfied with my reaction as he turns and leaves, shutting the door behind him. I compose myself and close my eyes because I can't believe I am about to do this. 'You can do this', I tell myself as I turn back and face into the room. I set the pile of clothes down and start to go through it. As I had expected, everything he brought me is either tiny or really tight. Some of this stuff looks like it was made for a child. Of course I am roughly the size of a child, but it still feels a little insulting to see it in the clothes he brings. I pick out a yellow spaghetti strap tank top and some small white thin shorts and take a deep breath.

"Jonathan, please don't look." I say sweetly, knowing he will. I smooth my face and reach down to the bottom of my shirt and lift it over my head, shaking out my hair as is falls down my back and covers my bra. I pick up the tank top and slide it over my head and pull it into place over my body, making sure to run my hands down my front slowly as if I am smoothing the shirt down. My heart is racing and I have to remind myself why I am doing this like fifteen times in my head.

I bring my fingers down to the button on my jeans and pop it open. I slide my hands around the inside of the rim of my jeans slowly before I slide my hands inside of them and start to shimmy them down my legs. I make sure to wiggle my tiny hips to make it seem like I am struggling to get them off and bend over with my back arched slightly poking my chest out while sticking my butt out behind me. I quickly step out of my jeans and kick them to the corner of the room and grab my shorts and slide them up my short legs, glad that that part of the plan is over. I take the few steps back over to the bed and jump on it, stomach down, and kick my legs up behind me while I grab my paper and a few art supplies. I put the pencil to the paper and begin to draw a stele. It has a long handle that would fit perfectly in my hand and I would use to bring down my father and brother.

As I am drawing, I kick my legs slowly up and down and let my shirt ride up a little on my back, exposing the two little dimples I have above my butt. I lower one shoulder and let the spaghetti strap of the shirt and the strap of my bra fall down and off of my shoulder and pretend not to notice; being too absorbed in drawing my salvation.

I finish drawing my stele and roll over exposing the front of me and close my eyes like I am tired and stretch across the bed and I feel the stele that Valentine has given me and discreetly close my hand around it. As I am closing my hand around the stele, I press my chest up to the ceiling, trying to draw Jonathan's attention away from my hand. I roll back over and hunch over my drawn stele and quickly slash the rune across the paper and see the ripple go down it and feel the weight of the paper. I do this in one fluid motion while slowly sitting up.

I really don't want to do this next part, but I have to if I am going to pull the stele out of the paper without him noticing. I sit back on my legs and reach up behind myself and slide one of my hands up my back to my bra clasp while the other one slides slowly into the paper that is pushed far in between my legs. I arch my back slightly and lean forward a little to try and cover up the movement of my other hand as I squeeze my bra strap and it pops loose while I slide my new stele under my leg. If he were paying attention to the hand unhooking my bra, it would look like my other hand was propping me up from the apex of my legs. I flip my hair back around my back and slide one hand up the top of my other arm and slide the bra strap down my arm and reach across to my other one and repeat the same process. Once the staps are free of my arms, I reach inside my low cut tank top and grab the bra in between my peaks and pull it up and out of my shirt and toss it across the room to where my jeans are and stretch out on the bed once again and begin to draw one of the new runes.

A few minutes pass and Valentine walks in my room surveying all of my drawings. He picks up one of the now empty papers I drew a dagger on a looks at the rune in the corner of the paper.

"This isn't one of the ones from earlier, is it?" He asks me.

I have never been the best a lying so I decide to tell the truth. "That is the rune that I drew to release the Mortal Cup from the tarot card it was in. I thought you might want to have it for future use." I look up at him and shrug my shoulders.

"You are right. I think this could be very useful in the future." Valentine looks at me and seems to notice my lack of clothing. "Why don't you slip on a proper shirt and you can go visit Jace for a while." He turns away and walks through the door and closes it behind him. I hop off of the bed quickly and grab my new stele and slip it under the mattress where my weapons are and smooth down the sheets again. I step over to where my discarded shirt is from earlier and slide it on over the tiny yellow tank, but I leave the shorts on. It is actually kind of hot.

I walk over to the wall by the door and knock twice, letting him know that I am ready to come out. The door swings open and I see both Valentine and Jonathan waiting for me. Valentine motions for me to follow him and I step out into the living area with Jonathan following closely behind me. We start to climb the stairs and I feel Jonathan lean forward next to my ear. Since I am a few steps above him, our heads are level with each other so his mouth brushes up against my ear lobe as he says, "Thanks for the show, little sister. I _thoroughly_ enjoyed it."

I pull away slightly and say under my breath so Valentine won't hear, "I have no idea what you are talking about." even though I do. I hate that I did that, but I was able to accomplish a lot by doing it.

He leans forward again as we are nearing the top of the staircase to whisper in my ear again. "Oh yes you do. I knew you would come around." He reaches out while saying the last thing and runs the tips of his fingers up my thigh. I reach down and slap his hand away just as our father turns to look at us as he reaches Jace's door. Valentine waves his hand across the door and opens it to reveal my beautiful boyfriend. His eyes light up as he sees me and I feel a rush through my veins. "Jace." I say while a huge dumb smile comes across my face. I step into the room and give him a big hug and whisper in his ear, "I have so much to tell you."


	21. Chapter 21

**Warning. Smut in this chapter. Once again, this was once rated M until I dialed it down. With that being said, if you decide to continue, I hope you enjoy.**

 **I also wanted to say thanks for all of the reviews and follows. I always love to hear feedback and it keeps me motivated. Keep being awesome everybody!**

 **-Clary**

Jace smells so good. I pull back from our hug and kiss him with my arms still wrapped around his neck. I hear that the door is starting to close so I turn around and say, "Father?" Jace snaps his head to look at me, but I can't see the look on his face as I am looking at Valentine. "How long do we have?" He pauses for a second and seems to contemplate what his answer should be. "I drew you four new runes. Can I please spend a while here with him, Father? I have been trying very hard." I give him my doe eyes again, hoping that they work. He pulls out a pocket watch and looks at it and he sighs imperceptibly.

"I have business to attend to. I was going to come and get you before said business and take you back downstairs, but you have been rather cooperative. I will come and get you when I am done with my business a few hours from now."

I give him a radiant smile. "Thank you, Father." Before I can lose my nerve, I take a quick step towards him and give him a peck on the cheek. The look on his face when I pull back is utter shock.

"Laying it on a little thick, don't you think, Clarissa?" He says to me.

I cast my eyes downward and let some of the life drain out of them. "I was just thinking about what you said. How I never even gave you a chance. How I instantly hated you because of what other people have said and I decided that I wanted to make my own judgement. I always thought my father was dead because my mother lied to me my whole life and hid who I really am from me. I only have one father and I don't want to instantly shun you without giving you a chance. It wouldn't be fair to hate you for not being there when you didn't even know I existed because my mother never gave us the option for me or you to know each other or not. She decided for me and a part of me hates her for it."

I look back up at Valentine and see a shocked look on his face. Whatever he thought I was going to say, it certainly wasn't that. He regains his composure after a few seconds and clears his throat before he says, "Only time will tell if you are telling the truth or not. I will see you in a few hours." He turns to leave then stops and turns back around. "I will be checking on you two periodically and I will keep Jonathan busy." He says that last part looking directly into my eyes letting me know that that was for me. I smile sweetly back at him and say "Thank you." as he closes the door.

I turn around and see that Jace is standing close to the bed with his mouth slightly hanging open in shock. His eyebrows are pulled together like he is trying to figure out what just happened. "What in the hell was that, Clary?" Jace asks me.

I shrug my shoulders and say quietly "I have to use any weapon I have at my disposal." I close the small distance to him and wrap my arms around his neck. "Even if it is an emotional weapon. I have to find a way out of here and to stop my father and brother." At this point, I am whispering in his ear.

Jace pulls back and looks me in the eyes. "I thought you had lost your mind." he whispers and gives a little chuckle. "You are also possibly the most dangerous creature in this house; using your beauty and charm to lull them into a false sense of security." I have to strain to hear the last part as his whispering is so low.

I lean in and give him a small peck on the lips. "At least you know that I don't have to pretend with you." I pull him closer and kiss him again and dig my fingers in his hair. He picks me up and walks me gently to the bed and plops me down onto it. He climbs onto it and leans back against the headboard and pulls me in between his legs and lets me press my back up against his chest and rest my head on his shoulder.

"You look better after your shower, Clary. You definitely smell better." 'That jerk!' I think to myself and I elbow him in the ribs as he laughs heartily.

"That wasn't funny." I say sourly at him. It's not my fault I hadn't been able to take a shower for a while. "You also smell better." I say as I notice the scent of his body wash.

He brings his arms around my waist and locks them together while I trace circles on the backs of his hands. "I thought I would take a shower while you did. I wouldn't want Jonathan getting any ideas about me and my sexy body too."

I can't help but laugh at that. "I don't think you're his type."

"Don't be ridiculous Clary, I am everybody's type." he says smugly.

"Wow, Jace. Your ego knows no bounds, does it?" I ask him.

He kisses the top of my head before he says, "It has nothing to do with my ego and has everything to do with my sexy body and chiseled jaw."

I flip over in his arms and pretend to inspect him, using my hand to turn his head either way to get a better look at him. "I don't know." I say with doubt laced in my voice. "It's too bad that when I am with you, people don't even see you to appreciate your handsomeness because they are too busy staring at all of this." I gesture down to myself while picking up the t-shirt I am wearing and lifting it over my head to reveal the tiny yellow tank top underneath. His eyes fly downward at my chest and I remember that I am not wearing a bra and he can practically see down my shirt.

"You are correct about that. No one would even want to look at me with you looking like that." Jace's voice is thick with desire as he eyes my scantily clad body.

"Oh my God. Did the almighty Jace just admit that I am prettier than he is?"

"He most definitely did." He looks back up and into my eyes and I can see the fire behind them. I suddenly remember that I have to tell him something and I have to do it quick. I don't think I will be able to hold myself back from him if he keeps looking at me like that.

I slide out of his grasp and push myself slightly back trying to untangle myself from him so I can think straight. He looks at me with hurt eyes and goes to reach for me to pull me back into his arms and I give him a look of 'just wait' and he leans back against the headboard.

"I have to tell you this before I get too lost in you." I say to Jace. He smiles coyly and gives me a nod of his head. I tell him to scoot over and I move to sit beside him on the bed and lean my head on his shoulder. "I created a new rune. It is really similar to the one I used to get the Mortal Cup, but there is one big difference." I turn my head to look at him as I speak low enough to barely be heard. "I can draw something on a piece of paper and then pull it out of it and bring it into existence."

His head snaps toward me and his golden eyes are wide with shock. "What do you mean?" he asks me. I quickly and quietly tell him about the daggers and throwing knives and even the stele. How I convinced Valentine to let me use one for a short period of time while Jace says, "I wouldn't let you anywhere near a stele if I were him." I turn my head down and gaze up at him through my lashes as I make innocent doe eyes at him. "Oh really?" I ask him laying it on thick for him to see my new found weapon. He chuckles and then remarks at how dangerous I have become. I then tell him about the new runes I created and what they do and let him know that Valentine said he wants me to try them on him later. I look worriedly at him and ask him if this would be okay. That I wouldn't want to try a new rune on him without his permission. He looks into my eyes and says, "I trust you, Clary."

I tell him that next time we see each other, I will give him three of the weapons and that I will try to make some more with my hidden stele, but I don't want to push my luck too far and get caught. I feel like we have managed to have this conversation in record time, trying to quietly hurry it along in whispered voices in case Valentine or Jonathan is watching and listening.

When I have finally gotten it out, I slouch down against Jace's side and bury my face into him. "Was that everything you wanted to talk about, Clary?" he asks me while skimming the tips of his fingers down the side of my face. I close my eyes at his touch and make the "Mmm hmm" sound to let him know I am done.

"Good." Jace says turning his body to me. "Because the lack of shirt you are wearing is incredibly distracting." He grabs me by my hips and pulls me into his lap to where I am straddling him and my hair falls in a curtain around us as I lean forward into him. He runs his hands up my back and under my shirt and pulls me into him for a kiss that melts my bones. My hands are on his chest and his hands have made their way so far up my back, that his arms are under my shirt making it ride up dangerously high. I pull away from the kiss and close my eyes and sigh quietly at his touch. He leans forward and starts trailing kisses down my neck and to the top of my lifted shirt. I lean into him and involuntarily clench his shirt in my hands as he places his mouth over my other chest and languorously moves his tongue across my collarbone.

I sigh a long breath and lean back away from him with great effort, and reach for the edge of the covers and flip them over our bodies, covering us from prying eyes. He looks at me questioningly and I say, "I don't want anyone to see what I am about to do to you." in my most seductive voice. I needed him. I need to release the stress I have been under...and I just plain want him. My body craves his and what it can do to me. I crash our lips back together as his hands slide around my thighs and slide up under the bottom of my shorts and he grabs my butt as I pull his shirt up and I lean forward to kiss his chest. I pull my hands back and tear off my shirt and reach out from under the covers to toss it on the floor while Jace does the same thing with his shirt.

He leans forward and pushes me back onto the bed, laying me under him; one arm supporting my weight as he lowers me. I look up at him and I feel like we are in our own little world, with the sheets covering us completely. I kick my leg up while bucking that same hip at the same time, effectively flipping him over and I climb on top of him. The moment I sit up and straddle him, we completely lose ourselves in each other again.

Just as I am coming down, I look down at Jace and I see that he won't be far behind me. I collapse on top of him, a thin sheen of sweat covering by body with the hair around my face stuck to me, and I rest my head on his perfect chest. His heart is racing and I listen as his breathing slows and the beats of his heart slow and resume a steady pace.

A few minutes pass and he brings his hand up to my chin and lifts my face up to look at him. I prop myself up on my folded arms across his chest and rest my chin on my forearm to look up at him. He looks down at me with a sort of wonder in his eyes. "How...I mean...where.." He is struggling for words and I smile up at him because he is never at a loss for words.

"What?" I ask him.

"Where did you learn to do all of that? Did you go to India and study kama sutra?" He kind of laughs, but his face remains half serious. I can tell his is really curious.

I scrunch my brows together in confusion. "Learn to do what? Was that good?" I have no idea what I was supposed to do and I just hoped that I didn't make a fool of myself. I know Jace has been with other people and I don't want to do anything embarrassing.

His mouth turns upward and his eyes bug out a little as he says, "Was that good, she says?" He gives a breathless laugh lacking humor. "I don't...you are so beyond _good_ at 'that' Clary. I have just ascended from the luckiest man on this planet to the luckiest man in the universe. Here I thought I was going to have to teach you a few things and you end up showing me that I know nothing. This is only the third time we have made love and you have done things to me that...made me feel such pure ecstasy..." He grabs his hair on either side of his face and lets his head fall back onto the pillow.

I am utterly shocked at what he just said. At first I think that he is fudging the truth to make me feel better about my inexperience, but Jace never lies. He always says exactly what he is thinking whether you want to hear it or not. "So that was okay? That was the first time I did that to a man and then when I was on top...that was good?" I ask him.

He reaches down and grabs my face and pulls me up to him and kisses me with such intense passion that it feels like fire has shot through my veins. He pulls back and looks at me like I am a miracle, again, and says, "I don't think anyone, anywhere, ever, could make me feel as good as you made me feel. I won't be able to let you put your clothes on if I think about it too much."

I blush furiously and look away. "I am glad you enjoyed it." I tell him and I kiss his chest as I slide off of him and into the crook of his arm.

" _Enjoy_ is not the word I would use, but we can talk about that later." Jace says in a low and sultry voice. "I could use a naked nap with you after what you did to me." I pull the covers down to expose our faces so I can get some fresh air that doesn't smell like sex. I put my hand on his chest and trace the outlines of his muscles while he drifts off to sleep.

 **-Valentine**

I shut the door to Jace's room where I have just left Clarissa and I am still reeling from what she said. The logical part of my brain tells me that what she said is a lie. But the small part of me that was destroyed when Jocelyn left, feels like it is trying to piece itself back together. When I realize what is happening, I quickly shut down that weakness before it can spread like wildfire. She is her mother's daughter and she is a liar, just like Jocelyn.

I look up to see Jonathan staring at me with a look of annoyance on his face. "Is there something you would like to say, Jonathan?" I ask him, daring him to go against me.

"I just don't feel like she needs to see Jace so much." He says. I can see in my peripheral vision that his fists are clenched shut and his knuckles are white. 'He is actually jealous of Jace' I tell myself and let a tiny smile grace my lips.

"Why do you think I let her see Jace, Jonathan?" I challenge him. I want him to think past his frustration and jealousy as I have taught him, but something about Clary makes him forget everything I have ingrained in him. He seems frustrated by my question and I can tell he is thinking about killing me. I have come to know his face better than I know my own purely for my own safety. I have to be able to know what he is going to do before he does it so I can control him. If I didn't, I am afraid he would burn the world down.

"Because you want her to be Jace's whore? You have always favored him, Father." Jonathan is barely controlling his demon side.

"No, Jonathan." I say to him in a petulant tone that I use with misbehaving children. "I let her see Jace to keep her calm and under my control. If she thinks the key to seeing him is making me more runes, then I will let her think that. The moment I don't allow her to see Jace, she becomes angry and will lash out and be harder to predict and control." I walk past him and make my way to my room as Jonathan follows. "I do not care what they do when they are together as long as they both do as I say. If she wants to be a whore like her mother, then she can go ahead and do that. Especially if they produce offspring." The thought of a shadowhunter with such and intense concentration of angel blood would surely be the most powerful being that ever walked the earth. If I were to be able to raise and control it... "Can you imagine what their children could do?"

I turn and face Jonathan again to see him shaking with anger. "Clary is _mine_. How many times do I have to tell you that, Father?" His teeth are gritted together and his voice is low and angry. "She will never have his disgusting children. She will have mine and we will rule this world and all of the others in between and become the most powerful beings to ever be. Together, her and I will be unstoppable. God himself couldn't stop us." He takes a small step towards me and I ready myself to throw up a wall around me with my magical abilities. "She was made _for_ me and I _will_ have her and she will love every damn second of it."

His eyes have gone completely black in this moment and I know that if I deny him his sister, he will surely kill me the first chance he gets. I reach my hands around my back and interlock my fingers as I contemplate how to find a solution to this problem. Jonathan is still glaring at me, but I can see that he sees me thinking about what he just said. I pace back and forth while I run through multiple options; none of them working. The only way Clarissa would ever be willing to consider a life with Jonathan would be if she had no one left. No Jace. No Jocelyn. No vampire friend.

"Alright Jonathan." I look up at him to meet his eyes and his mouth turns up into a wicked grin. "I cannot deny that having a pure Morgenstern descendant would be ideal, but we have to be careful about how it is done. I guess that since I have tampered with you and Clarissa's blood so much, that you aren't so much siblings as you would normally be. The difference in your demon blood and her angel blood should get rid of any birth deformities that usually accompany incest." I stop my pacing and face Jonathan. His face is one of pure victory and his smile, while radiant, is off kilter by the sinister look in his eyes. "You can have your sister, Jonathan, and I think I have a plan for her to play perfectly into your arms, but it will require your patience."

Jonathan's body relaxes slightly as his manic grin widens. He is so close to having what he wants more than anything, and he can taste it. Just like I can taste it with my plans. The Morgenstern men will bring this world to its knees. Nobody can stop us from getting what we want.

"First things first. The head of the New York vampire clan owes me a favor. I think it is time for her little vampire friend to be fully welcomed into his world. Clarissa will never think it was us who got her little friend killed." I smile at my genius. "That will take care of him and leave Jace and Jocelyn behind."

"Let me take care of Jace, Father." Jonathan says eagerly.

"No, Jonathan. If you kill Jace, she will never be with you willingly. She would hate you and fight you forever." 'Why can't he see that?' I say to myself. "You could even try to 'save' him from the demons that I will send to kill him."

My long dead heart gives a little lurch when I picture him dying. I stomp down on that emotion and bury it as the weakness it is. "You could fight to keep him alive and she would be softened towards you. But in the end, you wouldn't be able to save him." I tell him. "It would be best if she saw the whole thing."

"And what about Jocelyn?" Jonathan asks me.

"I think that the most poetic justice would be for her to be killed by Lucian's own pack." I like this idea. She deserves to be torn to pieces after she rejected me for that dog. "It shouldn't be too hard to convince them that she is just like me. Just leave that part to me."

"Now," I say as I remember what I am supposed to be doing. "I have to leave and so do you. Go and prepare the cave and I have to meet with Malachai. Hopefully I can resist killing him for a little bit longer. That man is infuriatingly simple minded, but his position is useful for now."

I look to Jonathan who can't seem to stop smiling and he says, "Yes, Father." before turning and leaving my room. One and half more days until everything I have ever worked for comes together. As I reach down and twist my ring, I can't help but think I still want Jocelyn by my side and the smile that was plastered on my face slips away.


	22. Chapter 22

**-Jonathan**

 _Darkness. All I can see is darkness to begin with. Suddenly I see a flash of reddish-orange moving away from me. I give chase as it teases the edge of my vision. I am running and running and I can see the darkness fading away in the distance where the reddish-orange thing is going. I abruptly step out into the world and look around. I see a river blood flowing fast and deep in front of me. I look up to see a raging fire in the distance, consuming cities while I hear people screaming in agony. Some of them are shouting my name, begging me for salvation._

 _I see the reddish-orange in the corner of my eye again and I look up to where it is. That is when I see my sister. She is wearing a pale ivory gown and she is hovering above the river. The ivory color complements her skin and the blood is soaking the bottom to perfection. She looks like she has been walking through the blood as it is soaked from the bottom up. She looks down at me and smiles seductively, her lips giving a small pout as the curve upward. "Look at what we have done, Jonathan." she says admiringly. "We are unstoppable, you and I. We have brought this world and all of the other's to it's knees."_

 _Her arm reaches out to me and her hand opens in an invitation for me to place mine in hers. I give her my hand and I float up to join her and survey the beautiful destruction she says we have brought. I turn my head to look at her and her hair is flying wildly in the wind making her look like an avenging angel. She feels my gaze and turns her head me as she says, "Do you see it, Jonathan? Do you see that we were made for each other? I am yours and you are mine. For all of eternity. I love you, Jonathan. I_ want _you_."

 _I dig one hand in her hair as her arms fly around my neck and crush me to her body. She pulls back so she can literally tear my clothes from my body. Her eyes are blazing with fire and I have never wanted anything more in my life and I never will. I grab her roughly and tear her clothes from her as she screams my name in demented passion_...

I sit up straight in my bed and look down to see myself at attention just like every other time. I have had that same dream every night since I first met Clary. _I know_ this is the future my mother Lilith has promised me and I will stop at nothing to have it. Clary will be by my side as I burn down the world and she will be in my bed, screaming my name like it is the only word she knows. I start to touch my body as I picture Clary's body sprawled on top of mine, raking her nails down my chest. I will have what I want, that I promise.

 **-Clary**

I wake up after a while and I have no idea how much time has passed. Jace has his arm wrapped around the back of my body, pushing my naked form against his. My head is still resting in the crook of his arm and one of my legs is stretched on top of him, crossing his body. I feel movement and I lift my head up to look at Jace's face as he brushes a stand of hair out of my face with the tips of his fingers. He smiles down at me and leans forward and presses his lips against mine.

"How long have you been awake?" I ask him.

"Not long. I just didn't want to wake you. You just looked so peaceful and heart-breakingly beautiful, so I just watched you sleep for a while."

I lift up my head a little lean over to trail kisses along his chest. His eyes flutter closed and he sighs contentedly while I make my way up to his mouth. Our kiss is soft and sweet and I can feel the love passing between us. "I am so in love with you, Jace. Did you know that?" I tell him.

"I did. But it never hurts to hear it again and again." Jace pulls me back in for another kiss as his arm that is around my back skims it's way up my spine sending a shudder through my body along with it. I hope his touch never stops affecting me that way.

"Well," I say as I pull away, "now that we are awake, what did you want to do?"

He looks down at me and wags his eyebrows up and down as he says, "I can think of a few things." He smiles villainously down at me as he quickly flips over on top of me and starts attacking my body playfully with kisses.

"Jace!" I mock yell at him as I laugh hysterically. He starts to disappear under the sheets as his playful kisses trail downward. I feel his hand just above my knee and he squeezes the spot there knowing I am very ticklish there and I burst out laughing.

"Jace!" I laugh-yell. "Stop that!"

His head pops back up out of the covers comically and he looks down at me as his body is still on top of mine. "Stop what?" He asks innocently. "Stop this?" and he grabs the spot above my knee again and gives it a couple of squeezes. I thrash around as I try to escape him and fail miserably because my fit of laughter.

"Yes! Stop that!" I say smiling up at him.

He huffs playfully as he slides from on top of me and falls on the bed next to me. His head turns to me and I can see his eyes darken as he meets my gaze. "You know, Clary, you made me work up quite a sweat earlier and I think I need a shower now."

"A shower? But what about Jonathan spying on your sexy body?" I can't put a full laugh behind my joke because part of me knows I am not really joking.

"I heard him go into his room a while ago and slam the door. I think he went to sleep. His bed is against our adjoining wall and I heard something heavy fall on it and I haven't heard any movement since."

This is good news. I prop myself up on my elbow and lean into him for a kiss when he jumps up and lands soundlessly on the floor before I can make contact with his lips. My mouth pops open in mock horror and shock as I say, "You ran away from my kisses." I look up to him and all of the thoughts I just had in my head going flying out. He is standing in the buff at the foot of his bed in all of his perfect glory and giving me a such a seductive look, I involuntarily clench my thighs closed. I slowly rake my eyes down and then back up his body and bite my bottom lip as he smiles at me, knowing exactly what he is doing. Satisfied with himself, he turns around to walk into the bathroom and flexes his butt cheeks, making them jump as he looks back over his shoulder at me. He had to have known I was going to look at his butt.

"Is there something wrong, Clary?" He asks me in a serious tone. "Do I have something on my perfectly round bottom? You seem to be able to not take your eyes off of it."

I blush furiously as I think about throwing a pillow at him, but that is what he would be expecting. So instead I throw the sheets off of my body to reveal my nakedness and I stretch seductively (I hope its seductive) across the bed as I arch my back. 'Two can play at that game' I say to myself as I laugh internally. When I look back down at him, he is returning the look I just gave him. His eyes are trailing up and down my body and his mouth is slightly ajar. "What is it, Jace?" I say sweetly and innocently, knowing I have won.

He breaks his gaze from my body and meets my eyes. His eyes narrow at me, knowing that I have just outdone him and he turns and walks into the bathroom as I give a fist pump in the air, celebrating my victory. I lay there for a minute, not being able to wipe the smile from my face. I have never seen Jace so playful. He is smiling and laughing and he just seems...happy. Could I have possibly done that? I hop up out of bed and make my way to the bathroom. I open the door and steam comes out and hits me in the face as the smell of his body wash fills the room. I step into the room and shut the door behind me. The clear glass shower door is clouded with steam and I can see the outline of Jace's gorgeous body as he leans his head back into to flow of water to wet his hair.

I quietly open the door to the shower and slip in and watch as he lowers his head and smiles sexily at me. "I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away from all of this," he gestures to his body, "for long."

I step forward and wrap my arms around his waist and press myself against him. "For once, you are right."

"What do you mean 'for once'. I am always right." He says as he leans down and kisses me softly. One of his hands skims down my back and comes to rest on my hip while the other cups the side of my face and the tips of his fingers slide into my hair at the back of my neck. The kiss is soft and sweet and loving. He pulls back and rests his forehead on mine while he whispers, "I love you, Clary. I have since the moment you burst into that back room and tried to save the Eilodon demon." His eyes are closed and a puff of air blows out of his nose while a quirk of his mouth lets me know he is thinking about that moment.

"I love you too, Jace. More than anything." I say simply. I tilt my head upwards and press my lips to his as I bring one of my hands around to his chest while the other slides up his slippery body and onto his face. He leans forward and starts to kiss my neck. The kisses become more passionate...

 _Knock, knock, knock._ Someone is at the bathroom door.

Jace pulls back and whips his head to the door. "Yes?" He says in a harsh, yet monotone voice.

"Pry yourselves away from each other and be out of there and ready in five minutes." It's Valentine. He doesn't sound angry. Just annoyed. Jace turns his head back to me and kisses me once again, urgently, yet quickly. He releases me and opens the shower door and holds his hand out for me to steady myself as I step out so as not to slip.

"Ugh. He is such a 'knock' block." I mutter to myself.

Jace, who had been drying off with a towel turns his head to me and laughs breathily as he looks at me questioningly. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me." I grab a towel from under the sink and begin to dry off. "He is such a 'knock' block." Jace suddenly breaks out into a fit of laughter. When he catches his breath, he looks at me and says, "I can't believe you just said that!"

I smile back at him because it _was_ kind of funny and I mentally give myself a high-five for startling a laugh out of Jace. "Well, it's the truth." I state matter of factly.

We quickly put our clothes back on and I am suddenly regretting the decision to wear no bra and tiny shorts. Maybe Valentine will let me go change?

Jace knocks on the wall by the door twice and we step out into the hall and immediately turn to go into Valentine's room. He goes to open the passage to the training room and I quickly turn to him. "Um, Father? Can I have a change of clothes? I feel under dressed." He looks me up and down quickly before opening the wardrobe that Jonathan told me was for my mother, and he pulls out a pair of training pants and a sports bra and an expensive looking t-shirt.

"Quickly go change in my bathroom. I don't want to be kept waiting for long." His voice is hard and unyielding as he points to his bathroom. I give him a quick nod before running to the bathroom and quickly changing in record time. I slip out of the bathroom with my other clothes in hand and rejoin Valentine and Jace over by the entrance to the stairs to the training room. I give a shy smile as Valentine looks at me, but I can see in his eyes that it isn't me he is looking at. He is thinking about something else. "Your mother's clothes almost fit you perfectly."

"Yes, she is a bit taller than me." I respond, not knowing what to say. He comes back to the present and opens the door and motions for us to descend the stairs before him. Jace lets me go first, then him, then Valentine. As I reach the bottom of the stairs, I see Jonathan scowling at me and two other large men looking at me with distaste. I turn and grab Jace's hand because the atmosphere in this room is tense and it is making me extremely uncomfortable. I look up at Jace's face and his "kick ass" face has returned and he is narrowing his eyes at Jonathan and the two other men in the room.

I look nervously at Valentine and then back at the two other men. I am not sure I want them here to see me do this. I don't want to become a commodity that people want to keep and do what they want with. With that being said, here I am being treated as a commodity by own father and brother. Valentine seems to sense my uneasiness. "Don't worry, Clarissa. These two men will not harm you or Jace without just cause." Valentine gestures to the men.

I step closer to him and say in a low voice, "That's not what I am worried about. I don't want them to try to take me and keep me for themselves... and make me create things for them." He looks down at me and raises one eyebrow. "I know. I hear the hypocrisy in my own statement but I still don't want to be passed around."

Valentine steps away from me and speaks a little loudly. "These men know better than to take what is mine and double cross me." He eyes them and they seem to shift uncomfortably under his gaze. Jonathan also shifts his weight, but it is not because he is afraid of Valentine. He looks like what our father said annoyed him and made him angry.

Valentine steps away from me and approaches one of the men and holds out his hand. "Give me your stele." He tells the man without looking at him. His eyes have come to rest on me. The guy looks incredibly uncomfortable and worried as he hands him his stele and Valentine closes his hand around it and walks over to me.

"Lets try out those new runes, Clarissa." and he presses the stele into my hand. I involuntarily glance at a knife sitting on a table. Valentine sees this and says, "Do you remember the weapons room at Renwick's, Clarissa?" I think back and remember trying to pull weapons off of the wall but they seemed to be stuck no matter how hard I tried. My face falls as I remember. He notices my expression and continues with his speech. He picks up the piece of paper and points to the one that amplifies your strength. "Lets try this one first."

I turn to Jace and look up at him for approval. He nods his head and as I am bringing the stele up to his skin, my father clears his throat. "Not on Jace." I turn to face him and a confused look crosses my face. "Michael, step forward and pull you sleeve up." The guy who's stele I am holding looks over at Valentine. "But...Valentine..." Michael stammers. As he sees the look on my father's face, he quickly composes himself and straightens his back and steps forward to the middle of the room and offers me a piece of his forearm. I walk over to him and place the stele to his skin and say "Strength" as I draw the rune. I finish and step back to see that Michael is looking down at me with an appreciative look.

I step back and look at Valentine and see that he has pulled out a notebook like the ones at Wayland manor and is writing something quickly in it. He glances up at Michael and asks him how he feels. "Fine." he replies.

"Why don't you try to fend off my son. Let's see what this rune can do."

Jonathan's eyes go completely black as he steps forward holding a small dagger. Jonathan moves like lightning and jumps at Michael, knocking him to the floor. Michael gets his hands in between him and Jonathan and shoves him away. Jonathan is suddenly across the room and slamming into the wall. Michael looks down at his hands in astonishment and then back up at a furious Jonathan who is barreling his way back to him. Jonathan flicks his wrist and lets the dagger fly and it land just beside Michael, pinning him to the floor by his pants, just below his crotch. Michael's eyes widen in shock and horror as he see where the dagger landed and barely has time to put up his arms as Jonathan goes to kick him in the side while he lays on the floor. He pulls his leg back to kick him a second time and Michael slings his hand out at the leg that all of Jonathan's weight is on and I hear the bone crack before I can see him fall to the floor in a grunt.

Once again, Michael looks at his hands in shock. "That's enough." Valentine says in his booming voice. He looks down and writes furiously in his little notebook. I feel Jace lean forward and his lips brush my ear as he whispers, "I would have loved to have been the one to try that rune with Jonathan." A small little chuckle escapes my lips and draws the attention of Jonathan who is now standing and gritting his teeth together.

"Clary?" Jonathan says. The laugh instantly dies and replaces itself with a serious tone. "Yes, Jonathan?"

"I could use and iratze right about now." He points down to his broken leg. I look over at Valentine who gives me a small nod and I cross the room and crouch down on the floor next to his broken leg. Jonathan bends over to pull his pants leg up and his lips come right up to my ear, just an inch away. I can feel his hot breath on my face as he says, "Did you think that was funny?" in a clearly ominous tone. I shake my head as I press the stele to his skin and quickly draw the iratze and stand up and practically run back over to Jace. Valentine then launches into a flurry of questions for Michael. "How did it feel?" "How much effort did you put into pushing him?" "Do you feel any different?" It takes a while for him to finish his questions before he looks up to me from his book and gives me a small smile. "Very good work, Clarissa." he says in an approving tone.

The session continues like that. I draw the jumping rune which I name "Vault" onto Michael again and watch him jump from one side of the large room to the other followed by a billion questions from Valentine. After a while, he finally is done asking him questions. He sets his notebook down and walks over to me. He has the paper that the runes are on in his hand and he points to the last one. "And what do you call this one?" he asks me. I am nervous about this one because this one has the potential to the be the most dangerous. One touch of your skin on someone else, instantly causes them to freeze still. You could freeze a whole room before they would could figure out what was happening and casually slaughter everyone while they are completely helpless. "Um. I call it 'Stillness'." I meet his eyes. "It will cause whoever you touch to freeze still."

His eyes grow wide and he gives an appretiative nod as he rolls up his sleeve. "What are you doing?" I ask him.

"I would like to try this one." he says at me. "Also, can this be applied to weapons?"

"Um, I am not sure." I tell him. He reaches back to the wall behind me and Jace and pulls down a kindjal. He holds the blade to me, hilt first, and says "Try it on this."

I lift up the stele and place it on the handle and draw the stillness rune on it and then on my father's arm. I see some shifting coming from the corner of the room and I look up at Michael and the other guy looking worried. Jonathan on the other hand is smirking so bad his eyes are almost crinkled shut. I suddenly feel overwhelming dread for the two unknown shadowhunters in the room with us. Valentine steps forward and motions for the other guy to step forward and they both take up a fighting stance. The guy draws out a kindjal of his own and lunges forward to Valentine. I have never seen my father in full fighting mode and the beauty of his quick movements stun me. He swiftly turns and dodges the attack and spins back around with grace and brings down the blade across the guy's back, but doesn't pierce his skin. They turn to face each other and this time Valentine takes the offensive and drives forward with surprising swiftness and shallowly cuts him on the neck. He instantly becomes motionless and freezes on the spot. My father steps back to survey him and smiles widely.

In one fluid movement, he darts forward and touches Michael on the neck with his hand and he freezes on the spot. His smile grows impossibly wider at this. Jace grabs my shoulders and tries to turn me around to face him, but I shrug him off and continue to watch in fascination at the rune I have created. "Clary." Jace says urgently in my ear as he tries to turn me around again. As I am about to turn my face to him, Valentine moves into action again and I am mesmerized by his movements until he brings the kindjal down in a perfectly fluid motion and effectively slices both of the shadowhunter's throats open.


	23. Chapter 23

**-Clary**

I can feel Jace trying to turn me around, but my body won't move. He is saying my name to try and get my attention, but I can't focus on anything except the scene in front of me. My father had just murdered two of his fellow shadowhunters. Shadowhunters who were apparently loyal to him and he just slit their throats without warning with help from a rune I made. Part of me wants to throw up because they are laying on the floor and their blood is still seeping from their torn necks and the other part of me wants to scream.

I look up at Valentine who is casually wiping the blood off of his blade with a towel like nothing had just happened. Like he hadn't just...betrayed his 'followers'. I finally find my voice through the shock of it all. "What did you do that for?" My voice is weak and you can tell that I am horrified and shocked. Valentine looks up from cleaning his blade and gives me an exasperated look. "Come now, Clarissa. You couldn't expect me to actually let them walk out of here knowing these new runes? I can't have everyone running around with your creations. Rule number one of winning is always have the upper hand; and you" he looks pointedly at me, "are my upper hand."

I am horrified to see what I have done. I look down at the two dead shadowhunters on the ground. I didn't even know one of their names but it had been because of me that they were dead. A movement catches my eye and I look up to see Jonathan looking at me quizzically. "What are you looking at?" I snap at him.

"Why are you freaking out, Clary?" Jonathan asks. "Father has a perfectly valid reason for what he did. They weren't important to the cause. They.."

"Shut up!" I shout at him. I suddenly need to be out of here. I turn and run up the stairs, hearing someone on my heels. I don't turn around assuming that it is Jace and push my way into Valentine's bedroom and double over resting my hands on my knees. I feel hands on my face and I see Jace crouch down in front of me putting his face in front of mine and trying to get me to look at him.

"Clary. Look at me. It's not your fault. It's not." Jace says. I instantly look up at him.

"How did you know?" I ask him.

"How did I know what?" He looks at me with a concerned yet confused look.

"How did you know that I know it is my fault?" He starts to shake his head and opens his mouth to say something but I get to it first. "No, it _is_ my fault. If I hadn't made those runes for him, then those two men would be going home to their families tonight. They are dead because of me and don't try to tell me otherwise."

Jace purses his lips and scrunches his eyebrows together in frustration. He grabs my shoulders and pulls me upright and leads me to Valentines bed and makes me sit on it while he bends in front of my face. "You listen to me, Clary. None of this was your fault." I open my mouth to protest but he pinches my lips together between two of his fingers. "It's. Not. Your. Fault. Valentine used you against yourself. I will bet that he said he would hurt me and your friends and family if you didn't perform for him, didn't he? Valentine did this. Not you. He took your beautiful gift and turned it into something ugly and bad. _That_ is not your fault."

My voice is weak and quiet when I respond. "But if I hadn't made them; if I had said no..."

Jace cuts in. "Then he would have just killed someone _you_ love to get you to cooperate."

Even though logically I know that what he is saying makes sense, I still can't shake the overwhelming feeling of guilt pressing down on my shoulders. Jace suddenly moves his hands from grasping my shoulders and moves them around my back to embrace me. I greedily return the hug, grabbing onto him like he is a flotation device and I am drowning. I sit there for a few moments while I bury my face into Jace's neck, breathing him in, when I hear someone clear their throat. Jace doesn't move and I look over his shoulder to see Jonathan standing at the top of the stairs looking at us with his teeth gritted together. I tap Jace urgently and he lets me go and stands up to face Jonathan, taking my hand in his.

Jonathan turns his icy glare to Jace and says in an ominous voice, "Get your hands off of my sister." Knowing Jace and his tendency to mouth off, I am suddenly worried for his safety. I grab the wrist of the hand he is holding my other hand with and tug gently on him.

"What's the matter, Jonathan? Are you jealous that it is _my_ touch she craves, you sick bastard?" Jace says snarkily.

Jonathan's eyes darken and the irises completely disappear as his body tenses and he pulls out his sword. I instantly jump up in front of Jace to place myself in between him and the demon side of my brother and hold my hands up and I say, "No Jonathan. Please no" in a panicked voice. Jace puts his hand on my arm and begins to shove me out of the way when Valentine suddenly appears just as Jonathan takes a step in our direction. Valentine raises his hand and places it on Jonathan's shoulder and says "Patience, Jonathan." and steps into the room, no evidence of him murdering two people on him.

Jonathan, while still looking inhuman in his rage, stills himself and stops his advance on Jace. I watch as he takes deep breaths trying to regain his control on himself. The air is thick with tension and it will only take one tiny spark for it to explode into an inferno. Not wanting to push Jonathan past the edge of his control, I step away from Jace to put a few feet between us and I sit back down on the bed. Despite my earlier nap with Jace, I am incredibly tired. I lower my head into my hands and just sit there for a few moments like that. I look up when I see a pair of unfamiliar boots come into my vision while I stare at the floor. My father is standing in front of me and looking down at me.

"You have to understand, Clarissa, that sacrifices must be made to make this world what it should be. What it was meant to be." Valentine looks deeply into my eyes like he is trying to will me to understand what he is saying. "There is no difference in them dying on the battlefield than down there, in that room. They gave their lives for a bigger purpose. Their families would be proud of them."

As I am looking into his eyes I can see that he truly believes what he is saying. He feels that he is undeniably right and that he is the good guy trying to bring righteousness into the world. He has no idea that he is the crazy psycho bad guy that is bent on destroying the world. In this moment, I actually feel bad for him. His warped perception of reality has caused him to become a monster and he has no idea that that is what he is.

"But you're wrong." I tell my father. His eyes narrow and he looks disdainfully at me. "You don't see that you don't have to burn down the world to make it your version of 'better'. To take out the corruption and the bad. I agree that the Clave is corrupt and needs to be redone, but the way you are going about it is all wrong." I stand up and look up the long distance to him. "Downworlders aren't the problem. Power hungry people are the problem. Power hungry people like Inquisitor Aldertree and _you_. Wanting to dominate and control every aspect of everything is what is wrong. Why can't you see that?"

Out of the corner of my vision, I can see Valentine's hands are clenched and twitching slightly. He looks angry and somewhat disappointed. "Jonathan, take her to her room." Jace takes a step towards me to place himself in between me and my brother, but I reach out to his extended arm and gently push it down earning a hurt look from him.

"It's okay, Jace. He is just taking me to my room. I will see you soon." I don't dare move to kiss him like I so desperately want, afraid of the reaction my brother will have. I step away from him and start to walk towards the door while Jonathan smiles triumphantly at Jace, apparently satisfied with my reaction to push Jace away. I pass Jonathan and start to make my way down the stairs. I can hear Jonathan behind me put his sword back in its scabbard and take the steps two at a time to reach my side. I instinctively shy away from him as far as I can on the narrow stairs. He turns his head and looks at me with a small smile on his face. Dumbfounded, I look at him and ask "What the hell are you smiling about?"

Jonathan looks slightly dejected before regaining his smile and says, "Nothing." I decide that I don't care enough to press the issue and speed up as we reach the bottom of the stairs and I turn to go to my room. We make it there and he waves his hand over the door and opens it and gestures for me to go into it. He is taking up half of the doorway and he doesn't seem like he is going to move so I just roll my eyes at him and huff out an annoyed breath and slide my way past him; my chest grazing his ever so slightly. Just as I get into the room, he grabs my wrist and I immediately try to snatch it back from him to no avail.

"Let me go, Jonathan." I tell him tiredly. I don't really have the energy to deal with him and his advances right now.

He looks at me and I can see hope in his eyes. "You pushed him away. You pushed Jace away."

Ugh. Not this again. "I did it because I thought a fight was going to break out if I didn't. Not because I didn't want him to touch me."

This seems to do nothing to discourage him and he just smiles wider. "Sure." He says. "Sure you did, Clary." and he winks at me before he shuts the door. Eeeww. I suddenly feel my skin crawl at the thought of him thinking that I would want him like that. I step towards the bed and collapse on top of it not wanting to think about everything that has just happened. I close my eyes and curl into a ball as I let the horror of the training room wash over me.

 **-Simon**

"Okay people, we can't just sit here and wait for one of them to show up." I tell them. Isabelle, Alec, Magnus and I are at some strange shadowhunter's house because no one wanted to stay in the Penhallow's house after what happened with Sebastian/Jonathan and Max. Isabelle couldn't even look at Aline as they walked out of the door after they collected their things. Alec had tried to track Sebastian with some of the things in his room without any success. None of the things in his room were actually his and then that led to the question of where the real Sebastian was. But nobody had the time or energy to even think about that right now with Clary and Jace missing.

"What do you suggest we do then, Simon. We have already been over and over everything we can possibly do." Alec says while leaning his head back on the couch and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Where ever they are, they can't be tracked. Valentine was in hiding for sixteen years without being found. I don't think we can be expected to find them if he is keeping them with him."

"I know, I know." I say wanting to throw something. "Maybe we can, I don't know...set up a search grid. Like they do when a kid goes missing."

Isabelle looks up from her spot next to Alec and turns to me with slightly veiled annoyance. "And where do you suggest we search? Alicante? There is no way he would be here in the city. There is too much of a chance of him being found here. Or do you suggest we search the rest of Idris? It's a country, Simon. There are not enough of us to even begin to cover the area."

Everything she is saying makes perfect sense but all I hear is 'we're giving up for now'. "Fine. Then I am going to go find Luke." I walk out of the house and start heading back up to the Accords Hall. Maybe he could send his pack to look. I am walking the streets that are mostly deserted and most of the people I come across are wearing the white mourning clothes that shadowhunters wear. Thinking about all of the children who died while their parents were at the Guard makes me physically sick. I don't know how a person as good and kind as Clary came from someone so evil.

It seems like no time has passed when I finally reached the steps of the Hall. As I am climbing the steps, I am stopped by someone who looks vaguely familiar. "What are you doing here, Daylighter? This is no place for you." the man says while looking down his nose at me.

"I have just come to find Luke Garroway. He is the leader of the New York werewolves." I start to step by him and he puts his hand on my shoulder and pulls me back.

"I don't care who you are here to see. Downworlders like you don't belong her with us shadowhunters. Go back to your cave and stay there like a good little vampire." He starts to shove me down the stairs and I jerk out of his grasp. Who the hell does he think he is putting his hands on me?

I look up at him and say through my clenched jaw, "Do _not_ touch me."

The man goes to reach for his weapons belt when I hear Luke in the distance yelling. "Malachai. Leave the kid alone. He is with me."

The guy, Malachai, sneers in Luke's direction and then looks back down at me like I am the filth that is at the bottom of his shoes. When he speaks to me, his voice is low and threatening. "If you know what is good for you, you will leave this place and never come back." He turns to glance at Luke who is not far away and then takes off down the stairs, going somewhere in a hurry.

That is when I hear another familiar voice. A female voice. "Simon?!" I look back up to Luke, who is now only a few feet away, and see a bright flash of red hair trailing not far behind him. For a moment, my heart soars thinking it is Clary until she pops out from behind Luke's back. "Ms. Fray?" I am suddenly propelled forward and close the distance in a few quick vampire steps and hug her fervently.

"Oh, Simon." We are still hugging each other when she starts to talk. "I am so sorry about what has happened to you." She pulls back and in a very motherly gesture, brushes my hair out of my face. "You didn't deserve to be turned to a..." Ms. Fray seems to struggle to say the word so I say it for her.

"A vampire. It's not so bad now that I can walk in the daylight. Except for the whole immortal thing. I still haven't warmed up to that idea yet. I have never had the desire to live forever."

She looks up at me and places her hands on either side of my face and looks at me with pity. "Simon. I am so sorry. I know Clary wouldn't have wanted this."

"Well, she was actually the one who made the decision. It was either let me die or bring me back as a vampire." I tell her. Her hands slide from my face as I explain this to her. "I don't blame her for choosing this for me. I probably would have done the same thing for her in that moment." She looks so sad when I say this. She glances at Luke for a moment and then leans over and kisses him quickly on the lips and says, "Go ahead, Luke. I will catch up soon." Luke gives her a sappy puppy look and leans in and kisses her quickly then takes off.

When Ms. Fray looks back at me, my mouth is hanging open. "What...when...are you two..." I make a gesture with my hands that is meant to say 'together' and look at her questioningly.

She smiles widely and for a second, she looks so young and exactly like Clary. "Yeah." She says with her own sappy puppy face. "It just happened. Like 10 minutes ago."

"And how did you wake up? Last time I saw you, you were strapped down to a hospital bed in a magically induced coma."

"Magnus woke me up. Clary got the spell book that had the antidote for the potion I took and she gave it to Magnus and he woke me up." Her face drops considerably from the happy face she was displaying to the motherly look of worry.

"Ms. Fray? Are you okay?" I ask her. She looks up at me and gives me a half-hearted smile and says, "You know, Simon, that's not really my name. You don't have to call me Ms. Fray anymore. How about you just call me Jocelyn."

The respectful little Jewish boy inside of me reels against calling an adult, especially someone I think of as a second mom, by their first name, but we aren't exactly living by those rules anymore. Not in a world with vampires and werewolves and a sub-species of angel-humans. "Okay, Jocelyn." Her first name feels foreign coming from my mouth but I guess I will get used to it.

"Now," Jocelyn says taking hold of my arm and pulling me along side her as we walked to sit on some of the steps, "you came here looking for Luke. What did you need?"

We sit at the top of a flight of stairs with only a couple of people walking here or there. "I came to see if there was any way he can help look for Clary." I immediately freeze. I hope that Luke has told her that her crazy ex-husband has kidnapped her daughter...again. I really did not want to be the one to break _that_ news to her. I look down at her and she doesn't seem surprised by what I said. She is looking off into the distance and she looks genuinely worried and a bit angry.

"Luke has had some members of his pack roaming the countryside trying to find any sign of her. So far they have turned up nothing. And I assume that the Lightwood children have been trying their own search too?" She looks up at me then, to get my response.

"Yes. That is where I just came from. Even Magnus is there trying to help but nothing seems to be working." As I tell her this, a new wave of depression rolls over me. I can't even begin to think about just how long she could be missing for if the entire supernatural world is looking for Valentine and it's coming up empty.

"Well at least we have a man on the inside." I tell her trying to bring her out of the stupor that she is falling into. It almost works as she snaps her head back up at me from where she had begun to stare at the ground. "Are you talking about Jace?" she asks me. The way she says his name makes me think she isn't too fond of the idea of him.

"Yeah. After he broke me out of jail, he went with Valentine for Clary."

"I don't trust him. He was raised by Valentine. His allegiance could be very questionable." When Jocelyn says this, she says it with conviction; but the thought of Jace being on Valentine's side just feels wrong. I remember then that she hasn't met him. She hasn't seen the way he looks at her. How he would do anything for her and how I could never, in a million years, imagine him hurting Clary. Ugh. 'You see what has happened' I say to myself. I have gone soft on the prick. I can't believe I am about to do this. "Jace isn't like that Ms...I mean Jocelyn. You haven't seen the way he is with her. How he looks at her." 'How much I hated him for looking at her that way' I say to myself. "He already turned down Valentine's offer for him to join him in his quest to take over the world. On multiple occasions. As much as I hate to say this, and I hate it _a lot_ , I really do believe he loves her. He wants to get her out of there and that is why he went with Valentine. To get Clary back."

Jocelyn is looking at me surprisedly and seems to be contemplating something at the same time. "I always thought _you_ were in love with her, Simon."

Everyone, except Clary, always knew that I was in love with her. I had hoped that I was better at hiding it, but apparently, I was not. "I do, or I did." I reply to her. I look away from her and take her place at looking off into the distance in contemplation. "We kind of had a thing going there for a minute after Valentine told her that Jace was her brother. But she was already in love with him and was never going to love me like that."

Jocelyn reaches her hand out and rests it on top of mine. "You don't know that Simon. Just look at me and Luke." I stop her before she can go any further. "No, I _do_ know. She is never going to feel any romantic feelings towards me and I am okay with that. She is in love with Jace and he is in love with her. It took me a while to realize that that was never going to change, but I finally did and now I can finally move on." I would be lying to myself if I said that a part of me didn't hurt when I said that, but I can't live in my fantasy world forever.

Jocelyn leans her head onto my shoulder and says, "If it were anyone other than you, I wouldn't believe them. I will try to trust Jace because you seem to. Even if it kills you to admit it."

We both give out a little chuckle. "Yeah. It actually did _literally_ kill me." I point to myself. "Vampire, remember." Jocelyn gives a hearty laugh at that.

"Well, well." I hear a voice coming from right behind me and my stomach instantly drops. I turn around and see Raphael standing behind us as a projection. "What is so funny, Daylighter?"

I stand up quickly and turn to face him. "What are you doing here, Raphael?"

"What? No, 'Hi, how are you Raphael? Nice to see you Raphael?' You are such an unpleasant person, Daylighter." His voice is cool and collected, as usual, giving no indication of what he is really thinking.

"You didn't come here, or wherever you are, for polite conversation, Raphael, so why don't you cut all of the bullshit and tell me what you want."

He steps forward and Jocelyn places herself in between me and him in a protective gesture. "You obviously aren't welcome here, Raphael, so why don't you just leave." Jocelyn's tone is ominous and threatening in way that puts me on edge. I have never heard that tone of voice from her before.

Raphael is smirking now like he finds this whole situation funny. "All I want is to speak to the Daylighter in private. You know, vampire business."

"He isn't going anywhere with you." Jocelyn spits out. I step out from behind her and place a hand on her shoulder. "Its, okay Jocelyn. I'll go and talk with Raphael, wherever he is." I look up at him and he is smiling a wicked smile of victory. "I am just outside of the city in a home not far from the west gate." Raphael says coolly.

"He obviously wants something from me. He can't get whatever it is he wants if he kills me. If he does kill me, you or Clary will certainly kill him."

"I certainly would." Jocelyn puts in.

"His future doesn't look too bright if he kills me, so I think I will be alright." I look into Jocelyn's eyes trying to reassure her, _and_ myself, that my logic makes sense.

Raphael smirks again and gestures for me to walk with him. "This way, Daylighter."

"Would it kill you to call me Simon? I can't stand all of this 'Daylighter' crap." I tell him.

"No. I think I will just call you Daylighter, Dayligther." Raphael says. We walk in silence to the edge of the city where there is a gate in the distance. I start to get nervous the further we walk. I keep trying to look at him to see his expression so I can try and figure out what it is he wants, but his face remains indifferent.

We pass through the gates and by the time we reach the house he is staying in, it is early evening and the sun is just begining it's decent into the horizon. We step into the house and it is exceptionally dark. I guess it is to be expected since he is a vampire after all. The projection fades away and the real Raphael emerges from the back of the house.

"I have waited for this moment for what seems like a very long time." he says smiling a very unsettling smile.

"Waited for what?" My senses are on high alert at this point and a feeling of dread is starting to settle over me. Suddenly, a bunch of vampires, ones I recognize from the New York clan, coming running into the foyer from the rooms to my right and left and grab me by the arms while one of them wraps his arm around my throat enclosing me in a choke hold. I start to thrash frantically trying to get free, but there are too many of them.

"For this moment right here. The one where you realize that not even your precious shadowhunter friends can save you from me." Raphael is walking closer to me in his perfectly pressed white button up shirt and is smiling widely. "Valentine sends his love." he says just as I feel a sharp thump on the back of my head and I black out.

 **-Jonathan**

I shut the door behind Clary and I can't stop smiling. First she put on that show for me and then she pushed golden boy away. She is finally starting to come around. I think about my dream again and then think back to when I touched myself during her "show" and I am not sure I will be able to wait much longer. I will have her soon. She will want me in no time as soon as Jace is out of the picture. I can feel her now wrapped around my body and I can hear her screaming my name.

"Unnnngh!" I groan. I can't wait. I turn around and go back to her room and throw open the door to see her already on the bed waiting for me.

"Jonathan." She says. Hearing her say my name solidifies my resolve. "What are you doing in here?"

I step into the room and shut the door behind me and quickly draw a Silence rune on the wall and turn to face her. She is sitting up now and her green eyes are wide. "Jonathan, I said what are you doing?"

"Don't worry, Clary." I tell her softly. "I won't hurt you if you cooperate." and I lunge for her, unable to stop myself any longer.


	24. Authors words

**-Clary**

Although I have tried to hold it off, I can feel the realization of just how horrible the things I have done begin to wash over me when I hear my door open again. I have only been in here for about a minute or two. I flip over and see that it is Jonathan. When my eyes meet his, I am instantly terrified. "Jonathan?" I say. "What are you doing in here?" I ask him. He is smiling and it is not the smile of the Jonathan that is in control of his emotions.

My fear spikes when I see him hastily turn around and slice a Silence rune into the wall. "Jonathan, I said what are you doing?" I scoot back onto the bed and my blood is racing through my veins and I can taste the metallic taste of fear in my mouth. He is looking at me like he has lost all control and I can see the raging lust burning in his eyes when he looks at me. 'Oh no, no ,no, no, no' I say to myself over and over.

"Don't worry, Clary." His voice is low and dangerous. "I won't hurt you if you cooperate."

The moment he gets that sentence out of his mouth, he lunges onto the bed. I quickly scoot back and he lands where I was just sitting. "Why are you running away?" He says this seductively and his eyes show that he has lost all control. "I will make you feel _so_ good. You'll see. You won't even remember your golden boy when I am done with you."

I stand up on the bed and into the corner of the room where the bed is shoved and I realize that this is exactly what he wanted me to do. I am cornered completely. The only way to get away from Jonathan is if I go through him; and he knows that I won't be able to. He is bigger, stronger, and possibly the best trained warrior there has ever been, and to top it all off, he has extra strength and speed to go along with it.

I am frozen. The fear has taken over and I am frozen. Every part of me is numb. Somehow, I fight through the numbness and I find my voice through the ringing in my ears. " _JACE!_ " I yell as loud as I can. This strikes Jonathan as funny and he begins to laugh.

"Dear little sister, why do you think I drew that Silence rune?" His sinister smile widens to the point where it almost crinkles his eyes shut. "I wouldn't want to be interrupted when your screams of ecstasy reach our Father." He reaches out his arms and puts them on either side of me, resting them on the two walls that have me closed in. The shock is starting to wear off and my survival instinct kicks in. I know I can't win against him in a fight, so I will have to try another way.

"Jonathan. Please don't do this." I look him dead in his soulless holes he calls eyes. "I don't want this. Not this way." I swallow past the lump in my throat to try to continue.

"I am tired of waiting, Clary." I can see that Jonathan is not moved by my pleas in the least bit. His voice has dropped and his voice is thick with desire. "I have waited _eighteen_ _years_ for something I never knew I wanted. You are powerful and cunning and you are of _my_ blood. We are the two most powerful beings and we will rule this world and all of the others. Can't you see that?!" He reaches up and puts his hands on either side of my face. His eyes have trapped mine with the intensity of his stare. "You will be my _queen_ , my _lover_ , my _wife_. I love you and you are mine."

He crashes his lips against mine and I can feel the lust he has for me radiating across his skin. His lips are soft and unyielding and his tongue is sliding across my lips begging for entrance. I close my mouth shut tight and bring my hands up to his shoulders and push him with all of my might. Feeling my resistance, he steps forward and presses his body completely against mine, pinning me in the corner of the two walls. I can't even move my legs and my arms are now scrunched up in between our bodies. Me trying to push him away was a joke.

I try to turn my head away from his mouth, but his hands are still cupping my face preventing any movement. He finally gets frustrated with my lack of response and pulls back slightly. His nose is still brushing mine and his breath is hot on my lips. "Stop fighting this, Clary. _This_ was always going to happen. It was always meant to be."

"You are my _brother_ , Jonathan, and that is all I want you to be." My voice is pleading and, against my will, shaking terribly. " _This_ is wrong. This is the demon blood doing this. This isn't you."

He grunts in frustration. "This _is_ me. My demon blood is what makes me who I am. It is what makes me powerful just like your angel blood makes you." He kisses me a quick hard and short kiss and pulls back to finish what he is saying. "Our blood is pure. We came from the same place and that is why we belong to each other and no one else."

My breathing is fast and hard and is making my chest push up against his repeatedly. He looks down and sees my heaving chest and when he looks back up, I can see that he is done talking. I have lost him to his demon side completely.

His hands slide down from my face and in one swift movement, he has both of my hands in one of his big ones and is pinning them together in between us. "Like I said, you will enjoy this Clary. I promise you that. I am going to make you feel so _good_."

'Oh, God, please no.' I say to myself. "Jonathan, no!" I shout at him. His response is one that I was not expecting. "Mmmmm. Yes, baby. Scream my name." He hooks one arm around my waist and lifts me up and pulls my hands toward him until he is stepping back away from the wall and we are falling to the bed with him on top of me. He pulls my hands above my head while his body is on top of mine, preventing me from moving. He pulls out his stele from his back pocket and draws a Binding rune on my wrists. At this point, a part of me just wants to start crying and accept the inevitable. I briefly think about letting that part take over and then reel back from the thought almost instantly. I can't give up. I have to fight. If I could just get to the weapons under my mattress, I might be able to catch him off guard.

I am pulled from my thoughts by the gleam of a dagger that he has pulled from his weapons belt. For a moment as he brings the dagger up to my face, I think he is going to just kill me instead. He brings it down and slices open my shirt and most of the sports bra that Valentine had given me. He looks down and grunts as he sees my bra is still held together. I try to move and thrash, but his body is just so heavy. "Stop, please." I whisper to him.

"Shhh." Jonathan says to me. "You won't be saying that for long." He brings the dagger back down again and cuts away the rest of my bra and exposes my chest to the cold air of the room. He looks down at my breasts and a rumble down in his throat lets me know that he thoroughly approves. "You are so beautiful for me. You would have to be since you were made for me." He brings his face down and flattens his tongue on one of my breasts and drags it across it.

Shame washes over me and a tear slips from my eyes. I turn my head away, unable to look at him any longer. One of his hands is by my head pinning my arm down, and because my wrists are bound together, he is effectively pinning the other one down too. He sits up ever so slightly and uses his legs to spread mine apart while his fingers begin to skim down my face and onto my neck. When he reaches the valley between my breasts, a new wave of rage sweeps over me. I start wiggling and moving trying to dislodge his hand from my arm to free my hands. His grip tightens on my arm and I cry out painfully as I can feel the circulation being cut off.

He brings his lips down to my ear and he whispers this in a sickeningly seductive voice that makes my skin crawl. "Don't fight me, my love. I don't want to have to hurt you."

"Fuck you!" I yell into his ear.

He pulls back and begins to laugh. "Oh you will. Don't worry." He brings the dagger back a second time and lifts his hips up while his legs still pin mine to the bed and slices down the length of my pants and they fall away to reveal my panties. His gaze is immediately taken in by this sight and I use it to my advantage. In one quick movement, I bring my elbows to my chest and pull one of my legs free to the inside of Jonathan's legs. I swiftly kick him in between his legs and he lets out a moan of pain. I twist the top of my body and effectively get him to let go of my arm allowing me bring down my fists and hit him as hard as I can in the back of the head as he is trying to recover from my kick to his balls.

I roll to my side and pull the rest of myself out from under him and fall off of the bed and onto the floor. All I have to do now is sit up and stick my hands under the mattress and grab a weapon. As I am trying to sit up, I see Jonathan has recovered and jumps from the bed. He brings his booted foot back and kicks me hard in the stomach. It feels like I have been hit by a truck. I feel a sharp stabbing in my side where I heard a crack and all of the air has been knocked out of my lungs. I desperately try to suck in air, but every time I breathe in, I feel a sharp poke in my ribs.

"I told you to cooperate, Clarissa." His voice is angry and extremely menacing. I curl into a ball lying practically naked on the floor, trying to suck in breath. I see from the corner of my eye, Jonathan pull his shirt over his head and unbuckle his weapons belt and it falls to the floor. "Please...Jona..." I can't seem to get air enough to speak. "I have a...broken..rib."

When he speaks, his voice is petulant; like he is talking to a child. "Well if you had just listened to me in the first place, you wouldn't have a broken rib now, would you?" He brings his hands down to his pants and begins to unbuckle them. This sight sends an unbelievable amount of adrenaline pumping through my veins. I no longer feel the pain in my ribs and my train of thought clears and speeds up. He takes a few steps to come back to me and I lift my arms over my head and use my bound hands to brace myself against the wall and I kick as hard as I can at his feet. I connect with them and he falls to the floor on his knees. I roll towards the bed and slip my hands under the mattress and feel the coldness of one of the daggers. Jonathan reaches for me, but I spin away from him pulling the dagger free and have the satisfaction of seeing the surprise wash over his face. I swiftly sit up onto my knees as one of his hands shoots out to me and I bring the dagger down in both of mine and slice one of his fingers off. He screams out in pain and I take his distraction and bring the dagger back up and lunge for his chest. Finding it unprotected, I plunge it in right where his heart should be and his scream cuts off and is replaced with a sharp intake of breath.

For a moment, I see the hurt and betrayal in his eyes and a part of me hurts with him. He looks down and grabs the dagger with his hand and pulls it out of his chest. He looks back up to me and says, "Why?" on an exhale of breath. I put my hands forward and catch him as he falls, putting his head in my lap. We lock eyes as the last few seconds of his life pass. His body convulses and I place my hands on his face and whisper, "I'm so sorry, Jonathan. I am so sorry." as tears start to flow freely from my eyes and land on his face. He begins to reach a hand up to my face but it never makes it there. I watch as the life drains out of his eyes and his body goes lax.

The whole ordeal from the time I kicked him in the crotch to this moment here lasted less than a minute. And from the time I pulled the dagger free to me stabbing him in the heart was probably around five seconds. It all happened _so_ fast.

I scoot out from under my dead brother's head and stand up. I numbly walk over to Jonathan's pants and pull out his stele. I step over his dead body as I slash through the Silence rune on the wall. I step back and the adrenaline rush that I felt completely drains, washing away all of the energy I had with it. I open my mouth to scream for Jace, but all that manages to escape my mouth is a blood curdling disjointed scream that seems to go on forever. I slump to the floor and curl in on myself, bringing my knees to my chest and wrapping my bound arms around my legs and I begin to rock back and forth.

I hear pounding coming from the stairs as someone runs down them. I hear yelling from the other side of the door and part of my brain registers that it is Jace's voice yelling my name. I hear pounding and then a wave of air hits me. I look up to see Valentine and Jace. Valentine immediately sees Jonathan lying dead on the floor and his face freezes still from shock. Jace shoves him out of the way and falls to the floor in front of me. I think he is saying my name but all I am hearing now is ringing in my ears.

- **Jace**

I watch as Clary disappears around the corner with Jonathan on her heels. I turn my attention to my 'father' and glare at him. "Did you really have to do that in front of her?" I say to him.

Valentine looks at me in disbelief. "She is not a child, Jace. She should know what is takes to reform. Restructure." He turns and walks over to shut the door to the training room. "I will not shelter her from the truth like her mother did. I will not let her inexperience and naivete sway my actions."

"She is new to this world." I say to him. "She has had to face more death in the past few weeks than she could have ever imagined. Everything she knew to be real was pulled out from under her when she realized her mother had stolen her sight and lied to her since the day she was born." My voice is strong and commanding in way that it never has been with him. "She has come out on the other side stronger and more resilient than anyone ever thought she could be. But everyone has their breaking point."

Valentine looks back up at me and meets his black eyes with mine as I continue. "When you used one of her creations to kill those men, in her mind, it was like she was killing them, and that is something she can't take. She could never kill anyone who never meant her harm. She is too pure and good for that. Whether it be from the angel blood you gave her or her nature, she isn't a cold blooded killer like you and she never will be."

Valentine gives a small humorless laugh and looks me intently in my eyes. "I said the exact same thing about you when you were ten." His head drops and he smiles a genuine smile briefly before wiping it off of his face. "That is why I faked my death and sent you to the Lightwoods. I knew you could never serve my purpose."

"And that is what your children are to you? Some weapon that you wield for your purpose." It is my turn to give a humorless laugh. "I am a person and not a weapon for you to control."

Valentine jerks his head up and looks me in the face and points a finger at me as he says, " _That_ is where you are wrong." My fists begin to tighten at my sides. "Remember what you said when you joined me on the dais in Accords Hall. I have your heart in my hand and she has just walked away with Jonathan." His smile is triumphant and his eyes are wild with knowing he has the upper hand.

"You wouldn't kill her." I say to him. "She is too important. Her gift is too important."

"No, I would not kill her." As he is talking, he is taking his time walking towards me. "But there are far worse things than death, Jace. The only reason Jonathan hasn't taken her for himself is because I will not allow it." My heart begins to thump loudly in my chest and rage swells just under the surface of my skin. "Should I tell him otherwise?" His eyebrows raise up as he starts to walk to the door leading to the hall.

"No, no." I stammer out. "Don't let him touch her."

Valentine's mouth pulls up slightly in one corner. "That is what I thought." He pulls his hands behind his back and holds them together. The gesture brings back a flood of memories in that moment. He has always done that. I feel nostalgic for approximately 2 seconds before he opens his mouth again. "Didn't you learn anything from your sixth birthday? To love is to destroy. And to be loved is to be destroyed. This situation that you have found yourself in proves my point perfectly. You should have learned a long time ago that I am always right."

My jaw is clenched together and my breathing is deep. All I want to do right now is kill this man. And then a thought crosses my mind. "Do you regret loving Jocelyn?"

Valentine's eyebrows pull together and with confusion and shock as he is completely caught off guard. "What is that supposed to mean?" He gets out.

"Do you regret loving Jocelyn? You have two children with her and you never stopped loving her even after she left you. You have a closet of clothes for her right there." I gesture to the wardrobe, "You still hope that she will join you. So, answer my question. Do you regret loving Jocelyn?"

His face is still frozen in shock as his mouth begins to move without sound. Just as he is about to squeeze out sound from his mouth, I hear a bone chilling scream come from downstairs.

"Clary!" I yell out. Before I can make the decision to move, I am already out in the hall and flying down the stairs. I can hear footsteps behind me slamming down the steps. I jump over the last few steps and spin around to go to her room. "Clary!" I yell again. As I reach her room, my heart gives little squeeze in fear for her. I pound on the wall and scream her name again willing her to answer back. Valentine reaches her door and waves his hand across it and swings it open.

Never did I expect to see what I saw when the door gave way to her room. I see a shirtless Jonathan with blood pouring from a wound in his chest and Clary is, from what I can tell, naked and shoved up against the bed with her arms wrapped around her legs. She is looking at me, but I can tell that she is not seeing me. "Clary!" I shout again as I shove Valentine aside and dive onto my knees in front of Clary.

I grab her face and get her to look me in the eyes. "Clary? Are you hurt?" Her expression is blank. "Did he hurt you Clary?" She nods her head ever so slightly and slowly. I scan her body for injuries and I realize that she is wearing only her underwear.

'Thank God for that' I say to myself. I stand up quickly and take my shirt off and slide it over her head. That is when I hear Valentine speak for the first time. "It isn't possible." He says breathily and without conviction. "He was the best. I trained him to be the best. No one could beat him." I glance back at him to see a shocked look on his face with just a hint of hurt in his eyes. I turn my attention back to Clary and reach my hands up under her arms and begin to pull her up. She winces and makes a painful cry and wraps her arms around her torso.

"He broke one of my ribs, I think." She chokes out. Hearing her voice sends waves of relief through me. I lift up my shirt that I have put on her to see a huge dark and ugly bruise on her side where it looks like he kicked her. Rage swims through my body as I look at this. "Valetnine, do you have a stele? Clary needs an iratze." I say sternly and sharply towards him. He allowed this to happen, but he can pay for it later. I need to take care of Clary right now. While I am looking to him for a response, I can see the shock wearing off of his face and it is being replaced with anger. He is mad that his perfect prodigy was killed by his 'weak little mundane daughter'; or so he thought she was weak.

Valentine brushes the hair out of his dead son's eyes and then lovingly bends and kisses his forhead before turning his eyes to Clary. She is looking up at him and tears are running unchecked down her cheeks. " _YOU!_ " He says through his clenched teeth. "You did this! You have been nothing but a thorn in my side since before you were born."

"It was an accident." Clary says in a small voice. "He was trying to...hurt me. I..I..just wanted him to stop."

I reach out and put my hand on her face. "I know, Clary. It's okay." I say in my softest voice.

I look back to Valentine and see that he was not moved by his daughter's distress. He is standing his full height now and his face is red while his hands are fisted at his sides. "You are exactly like your whore mother! You ruin everything!"

I stand up and take on my fighting stance in front of Clary, even though I have no weapons...except for the ones Clary said she has hidden under her mattress. "She did nothing wrong, Valentine." I am using my most persuasive voice. The one I would regularly use to get out of whatever trouble I was in with Maryse. "You know what he wanted from her. He was a sick son of a bitch and all she did was defend herself. Can you truly fault her for that?"

Valentine's breathing is deep and fast and his rage is still boiling. "From the moment Jocelyn found out about her pregnancy with her; from the moment _you_ saw her; from the moment Jonathan laid eyes on _her_..." He takes a deep breath trying to regain his composure with no such luck. "Everyone of you have betrayed me and turned against me for _her_!" He jabs his finger at Clary who is still curled around herself on the floor.

He absolutely loses all control then and draws out his sword. I quickly spin and dip down and shove my hands to the side of Clary's head and under the mattress. I grab something cold and hard with each of my hands and when I pull them out to see that I have a throwing knife and a dagger. I spin back to face Valentine before he can even take a full step to me and who's face had turned to an angry shocked look.

"If you want to go anywhere near her, you will have to go through me." I tell him in a voice that shocks even me. I sound menacing and absolutely terrifying. Valentine straightens his stance and sizes me up, looking me up and down. "Where did you get those." he asks me and nods towards the weapons in my hands.

A knowing smile spreads across my face. I give him one of my characteristically vague answers. "Clary is truly incredible. It's too bad that you are too blinded by your jealousy to see that."

His eyes become consumed with rage and he lunges at me in the small room, stepping over his dead son. As he is coming forward, I feel Clary jump up and onto the bed. I don't dare look behind me to see what she is doing or if she is okay. Valentine halts his lunge and stills his sword. He glances in her direction and speaks to her. "Now that you have killed your brother, do you really want to add your father to that list?" Valentine says this venomously and with a challenge laced into his words.

"I will if I have to." Clary replies. I am proud of her in this moment. She has a broken rib and has gone through something incredibly traumatic and yet her voice is steady and commanding when she speaks.

Valentine seems to think about this and looks back at me. My face is set and I know that I will certainly end him if he takes one more step in our direction. He processes my reaction and then reaches for his hand.

"NO!" I shout as I lunge for him, but he twists his ring and he is gone. I let out a feral growl and throw my the knife at where he was just standing in my anger. It sinks almost completely into the wall. I turn back around to Clary and her back is against the wall on the bed and she is slowly sliding down it. Her hands are joined together awkwardly in front of her as she holds another throwing knife, just like the one I had, in her two hands. I look and I realize then that her wrists have been locked together in a Binding rune. I new wave of fury rolls through my body as I imagine why Jonathan did that. I step up onto the bed and grab her up into my arms and set her on the edge of the bed facing away from Jonathan.

"Clary, where is a stele?" I ask her. She nods her head towards the floor near Jonathan and I step around and shove one of his dead arms aside lightly to see the stele just under the edge of him. I grab it and quickly slash through the Binding rune on her wrists. She pulls them apart and rubs her wrists in her hands. I apply an iratze on them and then move to lift up her shirt. The bruise on her ribs is somehow horribly worse in the short amount of time that has passed. I gently lay the tip of the stele on her skin and draw a perfect iratze. I make no mistakes and don't rush it. Her eyes pull together and close while she lets out a small hiss as her bones knit themselves back together. I get on my knees in front of her and wait as the pain subsides. When it seems the worst has passed, I look into her green eyes and she throws her arms around my neck. I pull her into me as I stand, taking her with me. Her breath hiccups and I can feel her start to cry hard onto my bare chest. I rub my hands on her back and bury my face in her hair and just hold her while she gets all of the horrible emotions out.

After a few minutes, she pulls back and meets my eyes. "I had to stop him. He was going to...ra..." Clary's voice falters when she tries to say rape. I put my hands on her face and look intensely into her eyes. She has to understand that it was okay. What she did was okay.

"I know." I say quietly. "You did what you had to. He was going to ra...rape you. He was a monster, Clary. You did nothing wrong."

"But he was my brother." She says brokenly. "It wasn't his fault he was like that. It was Valentine's fault. He poisoned him. Maybe I could have done something different, saved him somehow..."

I cut her off before she can get too far down that road. "No, Clary. There was no saving him. Because of what Valentine did to him, he was beyond saving. The demon blood burned out his humanity."

Tears are still falling from her eyes, albeit more slowly than a few minutes ago, but they are still wetting her cheeks and my shirt she is wearing. "But it still hurts. He was a monster, but he was my brother. Why does it still hurt me that I killed him when he has done so much bad?"

I take a deep breath and bring my eyes to lock with hers. "Because, Clary, _you_ are not a monster. A part of you loved him and there is nothing wrong with that. I actually love you more because of it."

Her eyes turn soft and she asks me, "You do?"

I brush a few strands of her hair from her face that have been matted to her cheek with tears. "Of course I do. You have a thing for lost causes like myself. If you didn't, I would be with my Valentine now planning the destruction of the world." I say this next part low and intense so she will understand the sincerity of it. "Your love saved me. Time and time again. Without you, _I_ would be the monster."

Another tear slips from her eyes and she reaches up slowly on her toes and kisses me softly on the lips. When she pulls away, she gives me a small, yet incredibly sad smile and says, "We should probably get out of here before he comes back."

"Good idea." I say. "But we should probably get you some clothes."

She licks her lips before she speaks. "They are over there on the floor. Sometime while I was trying to get away from Jonathan," her eyes tighten and she swallows hard, "they got knocked on the floor." and she nods to a haphazardly piled collection of clothes. I turn back and reach for them, thanking the angels that they aren't in the corner where Jonathan is, and grab a tight training shirt and some tight sweat pants and hand them to her. She takes them and sets them on the bed while she lifts my shirt off of her body and hands it back to me. Even though she is only wearing panties, I have no desire to touch her in any other way than to comfort her. She gets dressed and goes to the bathroom and pulls out her shoes and straps them on. I notice she is willfully avoiding looking at the part of the room where Jonathan is lying dead, looking only at me and what is directly in front of her.

I reach back to the bed where I set the stele down and hand it to her. She takes it in her hand and looks sadly at it. "This is...was Jonathan's." She says this as a statement that is meant to have no reply, so I say nothing and just reach for her hand and interlace my fingers in hers. "Are you ready?" I ask her.

She looks up at me with sad eyes and nods her head. "Just give me a minute." Clary lets go of my hand and grabs the sheet from her bed. I look at her puzzled until I see her eyes unwillingly fall on her brother. She takes the few steps to him and flings the sheet over his body, letting it fall over him. When the sheet touches his bare chest, the blood soaks through and turns the white a deep crimson. She kneels down and pulls the sheet back a little to reveal his face. His eyes are half open and his face is slack. He almost looks peaceful.

Clary reaches down and shuts his eyes the rest of the way and then smooths his hair down. "Atque in perpetuum frater, ave atque vale." She says the whole saying, 'Forever and ever my brother, hail and farewell'. Her voice catches sligtly when she says brother and then she kisses him gently on the forehead and then pulls the sheet back down before standing and reaching for me to join her. I take her hand and we walk out of this godforsaken room and into the kitchen. She walks up to a bare wall and draws an unfamiliar rune. It is similar to an open rune, but that is not what it is. Suddenly, a door appears before my eyes and she grabs the doorknob and steps out into the night, pulling me with her.


	25. Chapter 25

**I replaced the author's note that took the place of the previous chapter with an actual chapter, so make sure you read that one before this one. Thanks for still being awesome and reading my story! I hope I don't disappoint. And don't forget to review!**

 **-Simon**

I wake up to my head throbbing. My arms are spread wide and hanging in a "Y" shape. I look up and see that they are attached to the wall with heavy manacles and chains. I look down and it sends a wave of pain throbbing to my forehead. I fight past the pain and keep my eyes open to see that my knees are bent and all my weight is being supported by my arms. I tense the muscles in my legs to stand and slowly straighten out when I realize that my ankles have chains on them too. For a second, I think that I am back in the cells at the Guard and then I remember going with Raphael somewhere. " _Raphael!_ " I yell as loud as I can. I see movement in the corner of the dark and damp room I am in and I realize that I am in a cellar. The floor is a mixture of dirt and stone and the walls look like giant rocks that are being held together by mortar. The ceiling is relatively low, around six and a half feet, and there is a tiny window that is about ten inches high. It has the tiniest sliver of moonlight filtering through it letting me know that it is still night.

"Daylighter." Raphael steps closer. "Fancy meeting you here." I narrow my eyes at him and my vampire sight kicks in allowing me to see him in his perfectly pressed white shirt wearing a sly smile on his face.

"What is going on, Raphael?" I snap at him. All civility has left my voice. "Why am I chained here? What do you want from me?"

He gives a small chuckle. "One would think that since you have found yourself in this situation," He gestures to my chains, "that you would speak with some respect for your clan leader."

I grit my teeth at him. "I am not in your clan. I never have been."

"And that is where the problem lies, Daylighter." Raphael seems to be pleased at what I have said. Its like that is exactly what he wanted me to say. "In my eyes, you are a rogue downworlder. A danger." He pulls his hands in front of them and steeples them together in a thoughtful pose. "At least that is what I am going to tell the Clave."

When he says that, a memory tickles at the edge of my mind. When his minions grabbed me, he said... and then I remember exactly what he said. "But you said that Valentine sends his love."

"Is that what I said?" Raphael playfully says. He pretends to think for a moment before continuing. "Oh, that's right. I did say that." He lets his steepled hands fall to be folded in front of him.

Horror mixed with confusion races across my mind and face. "But why?" I ask him. "Why would Valentine want me dead so badly? And why would you make a deal with him? He wants to erase the world of all downworlders. To kill us all. Why would you do _anything_ for him?" By the time I am done with my questions, my voice has raised numerous octaves and panic has started to wedge its way into me.

"I have made a deal with him." Raphael says this plainly and with no emotion. "One must occasionally make a deal with the devil to secure his future." I can tell he is not finished talking, so I keep the questions that are racing through my head to myself. "I made him promise on the Angel himself that no harm would come to me by his hands or his orders. That he would give me as much protection from his circle members that he could offer." He paces closer to me. "But that is not all he promised." Raphael looks me dead in the eyes. "Valentine told me that, even though you deny it, you do know how you came to gain your daylighter powers."

He watches me thoughtfully. I think back to the boat and how I attacked Jace and drank his blood. I didn't know at the time that his blood was infused with more angel blood than the normal shadowhunter.

"The look on your face tells me that Valentine was correct. You _do_ know." He looks annoyed and angry and he steps back slightly. "I never once believed that you did not know how you gained your power. And now, because you refuse to accept what you are and share your secret with the others of your kind, you will die a traitor."

I think about denying knowing how I became a daylighter, but I figure it will be futile. He saw the look on my face and denying it again will only make him angrier. "I know you, Raphael. There is no way that you would enter into this agreement without getting something out of the deal. And it isn't just Valentine's protection." I watch him carefully in the dimly lit basement. I try to take a step toward him, but the chains keep me in place. I see his eyes tighten infinitesimally and his shoulders tense for the briefest of moments before relaxing and I know I am right. "What else did he promise you?" I demand; my voice holding more authority and anger than I thought would be possible while chained to a wall.

Raphael paces back a few steps casually as he furrows his brows slightly in thought. "I guess it would do no harm to tell a dead man my secrets." His mouth quirks up on one side slightly. "You will soon no longer be known as the only Daylighter. I will be." His slight mouth quirk turns into a full on smile. "Once I kill you, of course. You can't have two daylighters running around."

Worry races through my mind. I know Valentine has Clary and Jace and they have the blood that would turn him into a Daylighter. If Valentine were to offer him a vial or glass of their blood to drink, how long would it take for him to figure out where it came from. To figure out whose blood that it was. Raphael knows that Clary and Jace were on the boat with me and I am sure he knows that they are now with Valentine. I don't think it would take too long for him to put the pieces of the puzzle together and if Raphael were to tell someone of his theory...Clary and Jace would be hunted and killed for their blood.

"He's a liar, Raphael! He won't turn you into a daylighter." I say frantically. "He will kill you the first chance he gets."

My words seem to have no effect on him. "Do you know what it is like, Daylighter, to be stuck in the shadows for decades? To never be able to see the sun? Always retreating to a hole when the rest of the world comes alive?" Raphael's voice if full of emotion as he tells me this. I can hear the pain and loneliness in his words. I can also hear the desperation that is driving him to do this to me. "I don't want to spend eternity in the dark. And if that means I have to kill you, then so be it."

I can tell that he is done talking and he moves to the corner of the room to where a small table is. I start to frantically thrash and pull on the chains. The sounds of my struggle and rattling chains fill the small cellar. "Raphael, you don't have to do this!" I scream at him.

"Yes, I do." He replies as he turns around and I see that he has a long metal stake in his hand. It is thin and it looks like it is very old. "This has been passed down for centuries, Daylighter." Raphael continues. "It has been used to carry out executions for wayward members of the clan for hundreds of years. And now I will use it to kill you."

Raphael blurs into motion then and raises the stake as he runs at full vampire speed towards me. I turn my head to the side, not wanting to see my death coming, and I see a flash of dark hair fly in front of me. I hear Raphael's intake of breath and a hiss and then I hear something metal hit the floor. I look to the sound and see the metal stake on the ground. I flick my eyes back up to where Raphael was and I see Isabelle standing in front of me and Maia on the other side of the room while she backs him into a corner. My heart leaps into my throat. "Izzy." I breath out.

She doesn't turn to look at me, her eyes focused on Raphael, when she responds. "I am getting tired of saving your ass, Simon."

I can't help but let out a small breathy and humorless laugh. "I'm not." I say to her. When my voice come out, it surprises me. It is soft and laced with admiration. The tone in my voice seems to take her by surprise and she risks a glance back at me. A smile plays at the edge of her mouth.

That is when Raphael sees his opportunity and runs at Maia, pushing past her and through the door of the cellar.

"I can't leave him here." Izzy says at Maia's questioning look. "Go!" Izzy yells, and Maia bolts though the door after him. Izzy turns around and pulls out a stele and draws what I am guessing is an Open rune on my manacles. I watch her as one by one they fall open. When she stands, I don't know what comes over me and I grab her and kiss her. She stiffens and makes a small squeal of surprise before relaxing and slowly puts her hands around my neck. The kiss is soft, yet demanding and I work my hands up and down her back. She suddenly pulls back and shoves me away lightly. "What...what was that, Simon?" she asks me.

I try to come up with a good answer, but I don't even know. So I just say, "I really wanted to kiss you."

"But why?" she asks confused. "I thought you were in love with Clary."

I am slightly surprised at her mentioning this. "I was. I was in love with her for years." I take a step towards her. "But I am _not_ in love with her now. I told you all of this already." I reach her and trail my hands up her arms.

She crosses her arms and her face hardens. "The way you reacted when you found out that her and Jace had sex says otherwise."

I wince a little at her words because I know she is right. I freaked out and ran. I don't know why I did it, but I did. "I don't know why I did that. I think it was just the shock of the whole thing. I...I..just know that I don't feel that way towards her anymore...because of you."

This takes her by surprise and the stern look on her face falls. "What do you mean by that, Simon?"

I reach my hands up again and I trail my fingers lightly up her arms again and onto her face. "Because, somewhere in the middle of all of this," I let my eyes dart around a little before returning them to hers, "I realized that I liked you. Izzy, you got under my skin and now...all I can think about is this..." I lean in and press my lips softly against hers, trying to gauge her reaction. I pull away slightly when she doesn't respond and begin to drop my arms when she grabs me by my shirt and pulls me back to her. She brings her lips to mine and they move furiously and harshly against mine. I surprise myself by letting out a little growl in my chest and wrap my arms tightly around her body. Her hands slide up my chest and she cups my face as I drag my one hand into her hair and the other down to the small of her back. My tongue slides in her mouth and then I hear someone clear their throat.

"Ahhh hem."

We break apart quickly and step one step away from each other. I look up to see Maia standing in the doorway.

"Um, I couldn't catch him." She says sheepishly. Her mouth does an involuntary twitch at the side. Isabelle moves into action like nothing has happened. "Well, I guess we should get back then." Izzy says as she starts to walk to the door without sparing a glance in my direction. I fall into step behind her thinking that I would follow this girl anywhere.

 **-Jace**

The door to the apartment shuts behind me and I look to see no discernible landmarks anywhere. It is dark and it looks like we are in the middle of a field. Clary stops and turns to face me. "We need to find a wall somewhere so I can make a portal." He voice is flat and has no inflection. I pull gently on our intertwined hands and get her to spin around to face me. "Clary." I put my hands on either side of her face. She seems unwilling to look me in the eyes so I just hold her face until she does. When her eyes meet mine, I can see the emotions swimming just below the surface.

"Clary." I say softly. "Are you okay?"

She swallows and briefly and breaks eye contact with me. "Yes." I look at her doubtfully and raise one of my brows. "I mean, I will be. A lot has happened and I will have to take time to process it." She fidgets slightly and brings her small hands to rest on top of mine that are on her face. "I know I had to do what I did, but it is still going to take time to process that I have killed my own brother. Even if he was a monster." She squares her shoulders. "I know I will be fine because I have you." She looks deeply into my eyes and I brush the hair in her face back and lean in to kiss her. It is a soft kiss meant to tell her that I love her and that I will always be there for her. I pull back and take one of her hands in mine.

"Okay, then." I say to her and hold out my arm. "Draw me a Nightvision rune." She raises her brother's stele and draws the rune on my arm and then draws one on herself. My vision reaches far as I search for anything in the darkness. I look to my left and see a very faint light filling the horizon. "There." I say and point to it. "There is barely a light, but I think it is our best shot." Clary nods her head in agreement and we begin to walk in that direction.

Neither of us say anything as we walk toward to light. We just hold hands and occasionally glance at each other. There doesn't seem to be anything to say in this moment. She looks like she is deep in thought and I have noticed that sometimes she will just zone out everything around her and retreat into her own world. There are a million questions swimming around in my head that I want to ask her, but I see her face. I guess that her retreating inward is a kind of therapy for her and I don't want to interrupt it so I swallow my questions and trudge forward.

After about half an hour of walking, we reach the top of a hill and see a tiny cottage in the distance. There is a garden in the back and a couple of horse stables to the side of it. Smoke is coming out of the chimney and light is filtering though two of the windows and a gas lamp is burning on the front of the house. "I can use the side of the house to make a portal." Clary says pointing to a wall. I start to walk towards the cottage when Clary grabs my arm. I turn to her and she says, "Thank you for that." I look at her confused. She takes pity on me and finishes. "I needed to just think for a while. To process. Thanks for letting me have the 'me' time to do it." She lifts herself up on her toes and gives me a quick peck on the lips before walking past me to the cottage. I follow closely behind her scanning my surroundings. I see a horse asleep in it's stall and I see a Mourning rune etched into the door.

"Clary." I whisper and point to the door. "We must still be in Idris." She nods her head and continues to the wall. She puts the stele to the wall and begins to draw a portal. When she finishes, she looks back at me questioningly. "Where do we go?" she asks me.

"I am not sure. Maybe the Accords Hall? That is where everyone was gathered after the attack in Allicante." Her brows pull together in confusion. "What attack?" she asks me.

That is when I realize that I never told her about the demon invasion. "Right after Jonathan took you, the whole city was attacked by demons. Valentine found some way to lower the wards and allow demons in." I run my hands through my hair remembering everything. The dead children laying in the street and Izzy carrying Max..."Everybody went to the Accords Hall. That is where Valentine came to strike a deal with the Clave and that is when I joined him."

"Is everyone okay?" Clary asks in a panicked voice. "What about Simon? He was in the prison at the Gaurd. Did someone get him out?" She is almost yelling at this point. The portal is still shimmering against the wall and I glance to it.

"Simon is fine. Alec and I broke him out." I can see her relax at this news. "We should go before the portal closes." I say and nod to the wall. She gives a quick nod and grabs hold of my hand. Just as we step into the portal, I hear a woman's voice say, "Michael, is that you?" and then we land on the steps in front of the Hall. The few people outside of the hall look to us in surprise and point as we steady our feet. I look down at Clary who begins to walk to the doors and just as she is about to walk in, I hear another woman's voice call out from somewhere behind me. "Clary?" it says.

We both spin around and I see a woman with hair almost the same color as Clary's walking toward us from further down the stairs. She is leaving a small group of shadowhunters that have gathered together in what looks like discussion. I hear Clary walk up behind me and I step in front of her protectively, holding my arms out. "Oh my God, Clary, is that you?" the woman says again.

"Mom?" Clary says doubtfully. I feel her tiny hand on my arm as she steps out from behind me. And then the woman is running towards Clary. Just as she gets a few feet away from us I hear Clary speak again. "Stop!" she says and holds her hand out in front of her. The lady stops dead in her tracks and looks confused.

"You lied to me." Clary says. Her voice is hard and angry. "You lied to me my whole life. You took away my sight and stole who I am from me."

I take another look at the woman and realize that this is Jocelyn. She looks so different from the one time I saw her. Then again, she was in a sort of a coma. I am assuming one does not look their best in a coma. I notice that they have the exact same color eyes and they have the same small frame, although Jocelyn is taller. I look between the two of them and realize that Clary is shaking. Whether it be with anger or some other emotion, I am not sure.

"I...I was only trying to protect you." Jocelyn says meekly.

"Fat lot of good that did me!" Clary scoffs at her. "You led me to believe that my father was dead; that I was a mundane. And now, because I have never been trained, my _father_ managed to kidnap me and _then_ I was kidnapped by my _brother_. Oh yeah. You left that part out too."

I glance back at Jocelyn and she looks like a deer caught in headlights. "Clary," she says quietly, "you have to know I did it to.." Clary interrupts her, "To what? To protect me? Would you just quit saying that!" Clary grunts in frustration and spins and starts to walk off. I quickly follow and I hear her mother close behind. After a few steps she spins around. "You should have told me who I was. What I was. You should have told me everything. I am not some fragile piece of china that can easily break!" Clary shouts the last part. "I mean, I just killed my own brother and here I am, still standing."

Jocelyn's eyes widened with shock and her hands came up to cover her mouth. "Oh my God." I hear Jocelyn say muffled under her hands. Her eyes turn thoughtful and then immensely sad as she lowers her hand from her face. "Clary, are you okay?" she asks in a small voice.

"Like I said, Mom, I am not made of china." Clary responds angrily. Even though her voice is angry, her eyes are sad and tired. I close the small distance that seperates us and place my arm around her waist. She leans heavily into my side. I decide to try my hand at peace making. "I think Clary just needs some space right now." I say looking at Jocelyn. She in turn unleashes an icy glare in my direction.

"Who are you to tell me what my daughter needs?" she says venomously at me.

"I'm Jace. Clary's boyfriend."

This does nothing to help the situation. "Why don't _you_ step away from my daughter. You left to join Valentine." she spits at me.

"I only left with him to get to her!" I yell and nod to Clary.

Jocelyn narrows her eyes at me some more when she says, "How am I supposed to trust you? You were raised by Valentine. You are probably just his little puppet like all of his other followers are."

I open my mouth to give a retort, but Clary beats me to it. "Shut up, Mom!" Clary's fists are balled up at her sides. "Jace is _nothing_ like Valentine. If anything, you should be thanking him. He was there to protect me when you left me behind to deal with everything. I couldn't even count on Luke. He told me to never call him again when I told him I needed help." Jocelyn looks horrified when she says the last part.

"No. Luke wouldn't do that." Jocelyn says shaking her head in denial.

"Well he did. Why don't you go and ask him if you don't believe me." Jocelyn's face falls as she says this. "Jace was the one who saved me from numerous demon attacks. Jace is the one who helped me figure out what was going on. Jace is the one saved my life too many times to count and Luke's life from Valentine. _Hell_ , he even saved Simon's life." I watch as it looks like all of the energy drains out of Clary's tiny body and she turns into me and rests her head against my chest. "Just go away, Mom. I can't deal with this right now."

Jocelyn glances up at me for a split second then steps toward us and reaches her arm out to Clary and says, "But Clary..."

"Just go, Mom!" she yells into my chest. I wrap my arms around her and look up at Jocelyn. She meets my eyes and looks a little embarrassed before turning and walking down the steps. I lean my head down on top of hers and rub my hands up and down her back in soothing circles. I place a kiss on her hair after a few minutes and I see that the sky is starting to lighten, bringing another day. "Clary, what do you want to do?" I ask her.

She turns her face up to mine and I can see her eyes are red and she has dark circles around them. "I just want to go to sleep." she says.

"Okay." I say to her. "Lets go find my parents and see where we are staying."

"We?" she asks me.

"Yes, we. If you think I am letting you out of my sight for one second, you are sadly mistaken." She smiles lightly up at me and I give her a quick chaste kiss before leading her into the Hall.


	26. Chapter 26

**-Simon**

We have been walking for a while now after leaving the cellar. None of us have said much of anything except 'watch out for that rock' or 'we turn this way'. Izzy hasn't said anything to me, much less even looked at me for longer than a fleeting glance. I can't read her so I have no idea what is going on in her head.

"So...how did you two find me?" I had to say something. The silence was too much. "I just now realized that I hadn't asked you. I was too busy thinking about..." Crap. What do I say?

"I bet _I know_ what you were thinking about." Maia says while she glances at Isabelle. The look Izzy gives Maia is one that would turn a normal person to stone. Maia clears her throat uncomfortably before continuing. "I uh...sniffed you out." Maia says sheepishly. "I followed your scent."

"You smelled for me?" I ask while my voice drifts up an octave in surprise.

"Well," Izzy says, "Maia, Alec, and myself were outside of the Accords Hall earlier when we ran into Clary's mom. She said that you had left with Raphael and had walked out of the city with him." Izzy stops in her tracks and faces me full on. "Why would you go with him, Simon? Do you really have that big of a death wish?" She stops for a second and puts one hand on her hip and the other rubs her brow while looking at the ground. "I have already lost too much in the past few days. I can't..."

I turn and see that Maia has graciously walked a little ways away trying to give us our space. I step closer to Izzy and put one hand on her face. "I'm sorry, Iz. I didn't think he was going to try and kill me just like that. I just thought he wanted something from me, that's all."

Her face is still down and I bend down quickly to lock her eyes with mine and bring her face up to me. "Simon, why do you have to be so stupid!" she groans at me.

"I know, I know. I am the stupidest vampire that ever lived." I give her a tiny smile.

"Why was he about to kill you anyway?" Izzy asks. "Do you just naturally inspire that much hatred?"

I can't help but laugh a little at that. I look back down at my hand on her face and rub my thumb along her cheekbone. Her eyes travel from mine to my lips and mine do the same. I close the distance between us and kiss her. This kiss is soft and sweet and doesn't last very long as she pulls away. "You never did tell me why he was going to kill you."

I step back and drop my hand from her face. "It was actually Valentine who wanted me dead so badly." Izzy's eyebrows shoot up to her hairline when she hears this. "Well, Raphael wanted me dead but Valentine sort of sealed the deal. He told Raphael if he killed me, he would turn him into a daylighter."

"But why would Valentine make a deal with a vampire? And why would Raphael even take the deal knowing that Valentine has vowed to kill all downworlders?"

"Because, Izzy, Valentine told him that he would let him live if he killed me." I chuckle without humor at this. "Maybe I do inspire insane amounts of hatred. He was willing to let a vampire live, who he has sworn to kill, all in exchange for my death." Hearing myself say it out loud makes it sound really, really bad and I suddenly get a knot in my stomach.

I look back up to Izzy to try and gauge her reaction and it isn't what I expected. She looks like she is thinking really hard about something. "Or..." she starts to say, "he was using killing you to get Clary to cooperate with him; whatever he wants her to do." She looks pointedly at me. "Clary would do anything if she thought you were in danger. All he would have to do was use the Spy rune to show you locked up in a cellar and she would do anything to save you."

'That has to be it. Why didn't I think of that.' I say to myself. "That actually makes a lot of sense, Izzy." I lock my eyes to hers. "Not only is she drop dead gorgeous folks, she is a genius too." I say in my mock announcer voice. Izzy looks at me and rolls her eyes like she is annoyed but I see the hint of a smile playing at her lips. 'Score for Lewis' I think to myself. I made _the_ Isabelle Lightwood smile. I move towards her, fully planning on wrapping her in my arms and kissing her senseless, when I hear Maia. "Come on you guys. You can make out later."

Izzy rolls her eyes again but I, the smooth and suave Simon Lewis, blush furiously and drop my head in embarrassment.

We walk in a much less uncomfortable silence and it takes about another 45 minutes to reach the gates of the city. When we do, I can see that the sun is just starting to peak over the horizon and the few people walking about are wearing their white mourning clothes. By the time we reach the steps of the Accords Hall, it is early morning. I follow Izzy up the steps and into to Hall and see Clary angrily climbing the steps of the dais. "What the hell is going on?" I mutter to myself. I want to run and grab her and hug her till my arms fall off because I haven't seen her since Valentine's ship. When she turns around and faces the crowd, I see how awful she looks. She is pale, with dark circles around her red eyes. If it is even possible, she looks like she has lost a few pounds. And she looks angry.

"Shut up!" She shouts with her fists clenched at her sides. "I am so tired of the fighting!" Someone shouts from the crowd 'Traitor!' while another one shouts 'Liar'.

Clary huffs out a big breath before she continues. "Although most of you already seem to know who I am," she looks in the direction the shouts came from, "I am going to tell the rest of you. I am Valentine's daughter and I have just escaped from him for the _second_ time this week." A low murmur rushes through the crowd. One man I think is Consul Dieudonne, climbs the step and places a hand on her arm to drag her down the steps. I see Jace moving through the crowd and he pushes his way to the stairs as he makes his way to the man holding Clary's arm. Thankfully, before Jace can reach the Consul, Clary jerks her arm out of his hand and says something low and menacing that I can't make out over the crowd, but the look on her face says it all. It is pure fury and determination. The Consul pauses for a second and then he takes a few steps back while Jace pauses halfway up the steps.

"You must work with the downworlders." She says matter of factly. "If I have learned anything over the past few weeks, it is that my father will stop at nothing to get what he wants. And whether all of you want to admit it or not, most of you are scared of a war with him." Another rumble of dissent runs through the crowd. "But there is a way I can help. While I was being held captive, I created a Binding rune that will allow you to pair yourselves with a downworlder and share their powers."

Someone from the crowd speaks up and shouts, "Liar! How can we trust you, Valentine's daughter?"

"Because," the life seems to drain out of her a little as she says this, "Because the last time I saw him, he was trying to kill me." Because I have known her so long, I can see in her eyes that there is more to the story than what she has just said. "Listen, you can either believe me or not," Clary continues, "but if you don't fight with the downworlders and allow yourselves to be paired with them, then you doom our race to death." The crowd is quiet, so she keeps going.

"I can see that a few of you are still skeptical about my abilities, so I would like to ask for volunteers. I see a few downworlders in here. If any of you..." Clary breaks off and looks to a corner of the room. I look up over the heads of the crowd and see a familiar spiky haired man covered in glitter making his way through the crowd up towards the dais. Clary smiles when she sees that it is Magnus and he gives her a smile back. "I also need a shadowhunter for him to be paired with." Her eyes scan the crowd and then I hear people start to murmur again. Just as Magnus climbs the stairs, I see Alec hurriedly pushing his way to the dais. I glance back up at Magnus and he is practically beaming from ear to ear as he watches Alec make his way to him.

Alec takes the steps two at a time and then does something I never expected to see in a million years. He gives Magnus a kiss on the lips. Albeit a quick one, but it was enough to set the crowd in another roar of murmurs. I glance over at Izzy for the first time since we entered through the doors and she is smiling from ear to ear watching her brother. I reach out and grab her hand, fully expecting her to pull it back; but she lets me. She looks over at me and gives me a shy smile before returning her attention back to the dais.

Clary faces the crowd again with a smile on her face after watching Alec and Magnus' exchange, and continues. "This rune here," she draws a rune of one of the pillars on the dais, "is the Binding rune. This is one of a pair. One will go on you and the other will go on the downworlders whose powers you want to share."

A woman's voice can be heard over the crowd, "Are you expecting us to believe that a downworlder will be able to bear that Mark?" The lady's loud scoff can be heard. "Only the angel's children can bear the Marks of heaven." I look up to Clary and see her eyes roll before she continues. "No, I don't expect you to believe me; that's why I brought up these volunteers. To show you." Clary walks over to Alec and he pulls out his stele. She says something to him and he draws the new rune on himself. He steps up to Magnus who gives a wary look at Clary. She then nods her head and Magnus seems to steel himself and nods to Alec. The whole Hall is quiet. Everyone's eyes are on what is happening on the dais. Izzy's hand squeezes mine and then Alec pulls away from Magnus who looks down at his arm where a perfect black Mark now is. The whole room erupts into quiet whispers. Alec turns around and brings his hands together while Magnus whispers in his ear and then there are blue sparks shooting out of Alec's hands. When everyone sees this, the room explodes into noise.

Clary stands there and waits a few moments while everyone shouts numerous things at her. Some are nice and some are not so nice. She looks tired and drained and annoyed. She looks like she just wants to be done with all of this. She gives them about a minute before bringing the attention back to her. "Now it's your choice. You can either accept the help of downworlders, or allow my father to kill you off one by one. It's your choice." She looks down at Jace waiting at the bottom of the steps for her and walks into his arms. Now that she is done with her little speech and off of the dais, I start pushing my was through the crowd to her. I get a lot of sideways glances, but I don't care. My best friend looks like she could really use a hug right now. I see her and Jace making their way to the side of the room and I say loudly, "Clary!" Her head jerks up and I can see that she recognized my voice. "Clary!" I say again and she zeroes in on me. "Simon!" she yells as her face lights up.

We both close the distance in no time and she jumps her tiny self into my arms and I pick her up and we giggle like little girls. "I missed you so much, Clary." I say lowly into her hair. I set her down and she steps back and takes my hands into hers. Her smile is mirrored in my face and our eyes are almost forced shut with the size of our smiles. "I missed you too, Simon." she says and then her smile drops. She brings her hand up to my face and then whacks me across the back of my head. "What the hell were you thinking, Lewis?!" she shouts at me. "Going off with Raphael! Do you actually have a death wish?" Clary asks me. I rub the back of my head in mock hurt when I hear Izzy say, "That's exactly what I said to him." I look at her and she smiles at me before Clary surprises her with a hug.

"Thanks for bringing my best friend back." Clary says to Izzy. Izzy pulls back and then gestures towards Jace as she walks to him and gives him a hug. "Thanks for bringing my brother back." she says to Clary.

Clary brings her hand up to her chin thoughtfully. "You know Izzy," Clary begins, "do you think that they feel emasculated having to be rescued by women all of the time?"

Izzy lets out a laugh before she brings her hand to her chin in mock thought. "I don't know. What do you say, Jace? How does it feel?"

"Hey," Jace says holding his hands up. "I can rescue myself perfectly fine, thank you very much." Clary smiles up at him and reaches up and gives him a quick kiss. I am surprised when I don't gag or recoil at the sight and I can feel Izzy's eyes boring into me from the side. After the quick kiss, Clary's smile falls, again, and she glances shyly at me. It's then that I realize we never had 'the talk'.

Clary pulls her hands together in front of her and starts twisting them together nervously. "Um, Simon. Can we talk for a second."

I smile down at her as I can feel both Jace and Izzy's eyes on us and I say, "There is no need to talk, Clary. I can finally see how good you two," I gesture at Jace, "are together. Although it pains me to admit it because it's Jace we're talking about." Her eyes light up and a smile pulls her face up. "I just wish he wasn't so damn irritating." Clary lets out a hearty laugh, and for a second there, I think I see Jace laugh a little. She brings her arms up to my neck and gives me another hug that I return. "And anyway," I say in her ear, "I think there is a little something going on with me and Izzy." She pulls back quickly and glances at Izzy and then back to me. She pulls her arm back and gives me a punch on the arm as to say 'you go Simon Lewis!'.

Jace steps forward then and wraps his arms around his girlfriend and she leans heavily into him. "I need to get Clary to a bed soon. I think she might collapse if I don't." Jace's tone is halfway joking but I can hear the undercurrent of concern in his voice.

"How did you two escape anyway?" Izzy asks Jace.

I watch as Clary's face completely drains of color and Jace just shakes his head 'no' at her question. "We will explain everything later Iz." Jace says and then he drags her slumping body off.

 **-Luke**

"You didn't have to make cookies, Amatis." I tell my sister.

"I know. But I remember that they were you favorite." Amatis says and smiles shyly at me.

Things are still fairly awkward between us. The last time I saw her almost seventeen years ago, she slammed the door in my face and told me that I should kill myself for becoming a werewolf. The hurt that she caused from her actions and words still rub raw to this day. Even now, when she smiles at me, her words still echo in my mind. "Yes. You still make them just like mom did." I say to her. She apologized and I accepted it and I am trying to move on. I can see the regret in her eyes; the same color eyes that I have. I reach down and pick up a cookie at her promptings and take a bite as she watches me. I almost feel like an animal in a zoo with just how much she has watched me.

"You look older, Lucian." Amatis says wistfully.

I swallow my bite of cookie and take a swig of the milk she set out for me. "That tends to happen when almost seventeen years pass between seeing each other." I say not able to keep all of the bitterness out of my voice. She dips her head and reaches up to tuck a piece of her hair behind her ears. She begins to speak while looking at her hands in her lap. "There is not one day that goes by that I do not regret saying what I said to you." She looks up and meets my eyes with hers. "I..I didn't mean it." she says more softly.

I sigh and reach my hand across the table and take hers in mine. "I know, Amatis." I say to her. I am about to stand and pull her into a hug when we hear a knock at the door. Amatis looks up to me in question and I tell her that it is probably Jocelyn.

"Oh." she says. "I haven't seen her in sixteen years."

"Stay here." I say to her. "I will get it." I get up and walk through to the kitchen door and cross the living room and reach the door. I can't help but let a smile tug the corners of my mouth up. I still can't believe she told me she loved me. With a smile on my face, I open the door to find Jocelyn except she isn't smiling back at me. She looks furious. The smile slips from my face and just as I am about to ask her what is wrong, she pulls her hand back and swings it forward, effectively slapping me across the face with incredible force. My eyes widen in shock and I look to her in confusion. I bring one of my hands to cup my face and begin to speak, "What was that for?" I ask her in my affronted voice.

She pushed past me and into the house. "You," Jocelyn jabs her finger at me, "abandoned Clary?" The way she said it, it was more of a statement than an accusation.

"What are you talking about?" I ask her.

"I just ran into Clary and she told me that you abandoned her after Valentine took me. She said that you told her not to bother you with her problems." Jocelyn says angrily, but all I can focus on is that she said she saw Clary.

"Clary?!" I shout out. "You saw Clary? Is she back? Is she okay?" I get all of the questions out in rapid fire style and the concern in my voice softens her expression ever so slightly.

"I saw her." Jocelyn says with a dejected look. "I think she is okay. She wouldn't let me anywhere near her so I can't know for sure." I can see the pain in her eyes as she says this and I take a step to move closer to her and she backs away; the anger returning to her eyes.

"So, is it true?" she asks me sternly, daring me to say no.

"Well, yes. I did tell her that." Jocelyn's face starts to turn red and I can see the fire building in her. I quickly raise my hands up in an apologetic motion. "Valentine was watching me. I was trying to keep her safe and away from him." I say hurriedly.

Jocelyn doesn't look impressed by my reason. "So you thought leaving her completely by herself was the better option? She was attacked by a demon, Luke, and you weren't there to protect her like you swore to me that you would be!" She yells the last part at me. "She had to depend on _complete strangers_ to help her and protect her! She was led straight to Valentine by Hodge at the institute. If you had been with her, that never would have happened! You left her to herself, you bastard! She had _no one_!" Jocelyn collapses onto the couch and starts to cry softly into her hands.

I move to sit next to her, and then think better of it, so I just settle for sitting on my knees in front of her. "Jocelyn...I thought I was doing the right thing." My voice is soft and pleading. I don't think I can bear to lose her after I finally just got her. I swallow past the lump in my throat and continue. "I took over the New York pack and sent my men to watch over her. They watched her and reported her whereabouts to me constantly. She was with the Lightwood children and Jace; who I thought way Michael Wayland's child."

"But she didn't know that, did she?" Jocelyn asks. I shake my head no. "You left her completely by herself. You shunned her and made her believe that you didn't love her. I trusted you to protect her, to take her in if something were to happen to me. I trusted you, Luke. And you ran that trust into the ground the moment you abandoned Clary."

There is nothing I can say because Jocelyn is right. I did abandon her. I lead her to believe that she didn't mean anything to me. I told her not to bother me with her problems. I made her think that I didn't love her like she is my daughter. That she couldn't trust me. Shame washes over me as I realize all of the mistakes I made.

"You're right." I almost whisper. "I did do all of those things." I place my face in my hands. "I did what I thought was the best thing in that moment. Looking back, I can see all of my mistakes plainly like they are written in bold." I sit back onto the floor and rest my arms on my bent knees. "I should have taken her in immediately. Let the pack protect her. But in the moment, I thought that keeping her away from me and Valentine's eyes, was the right thing to do." I start to feel the desperation of my situation seep into my body. I am losing everything that I love and it is all my fault. Jocelyn hates me for what I did to Clary. I hate myself for what I did to Clary. I wouldn't blame her if she never wanted to see me again. "I am so sorry." I whisper to her as my head hangs in between my legs. "I was so stupid. I'm sorry."

I look up as I see Jocelyn stand and I look after her questioningly. "I need some time to think, Luke." she says and then she walks out of the door. The sound of the door slamming shut reverberates in my mind and I can't help but think she just shut the door between us in more ways than just one as my heart clenches in pain.

 **-Jace**

We get to the house we have moved to after about ten minutes of walking. It's not as big as the Penhallows, but not many houses are. I look down at Clary who looks utterly exhausted and then back up at Maryse who is leading the way. "You can put her in this room." Maryse says gesturing to the first bedroom on the right. "You and Alec are going to sleep in the room upstairs."

Before she is even done with the last sentence, I am shaking my head no. "I am going to stay with Clary." I tell her as Clary tightens her hold on our intertwined hands.

Maryse looks at me with her motherly look of disapproval and opens her mouth to protest. "I don't.."

I cut her off. "I am going to stay with Clary." I say with a bitter finality that earns me a shocked look from Maryse. She seems to think about it for a few moments before she gives in and just nods before walking back down the wallpapered hallway. I open the door and motion for Clary to go in. There is a bed on the far wall in between two windows that are flanked by the same flower pattern that is on the wallpaper. The comforter on the bed is thankfully just a plain white and I can see a small bathroom to the left of the bed. She walks in and stands at the foot of the bed for a moment until she looks up at me. "I don't have any pajamas." Clary says to me.

"I will run upstairs to where Maryse said Alec and I were going to stay and grab you one of my t-shirts. I am assuming they brought all of my stuff with them here." I look down at her as I say this to look into her tired eyes. I put my hands on either side of her face to hold her gaze. "I will be right back. Okay?" I say to her. She leans up and gives me a quick peck before she responds. "I know you will, Jace."

I painfully pull myself away from her and walk backwards to the door while holding her gaze. I reach the door and pull it open and then run up the stairs to another, smaller hallway. There are only two doors; one on either side of the hall. I swing open the first door, the one on the left, and find another small bathroom. I quickly shut that door and open the other one to find a tiny bedroom with bunk beds and I see my bag on the top one. I take a few steps into the room and reach my bag quickly. I start digging through it before just deciding that I should just take it down to our room.

I open the door to mine and Clary's room expecting to find her where I left her and instead, I hear running water coming from the bathroom. I walk tentatively towards the cracked door and slowly push it open. Clary is standing with her back facing me in nothing but her panties, obviously about to step into the shower. I set the bag down just outside of the bathroom and step inside. She hears me and turns around to give me a warm smile. I can't help but look her up and down, lingering on certain spots. 'I can't help it', I say to myself, 'I am a teenage boy and Clary is hot as fuck and practically naked'.

She sees me struggling to maintain my cool and mercifully speaks. "I just needed to wash off...everthing that has happened." She tilts her head to towards the shower. "Would you like to join me? I don't want to be alone."

Before she can get halfway done with the last two sentences, I am stripping quickly and tossing all of my clothing on the floor with hers. She smiles and lets out an honest laugh before she walks over to me and presses her bare chest against mine while wrapping her arms around my waist. "I can't seem to get my panties off, though." Clary says thoughtfully. "Would you be willing to help me?" Once again, before she can get through with the last sentence, I dip down at lightning speed and pull down her underwear along with mine. She lets out another laugh, a little bigger this time. When I come back up and meet her eyes, she leans in and kisses me senseless and then pulls me into the shower with her.

The water is hot and the bathroom is quickly filling with steam. She steps into the stream of the water and tilts her head back with her eyes closed, wetting her hair and dragging her fingers through it while the steam rises from her body. I can feel myself responding to the sight in front of me. After thoroughly wetting her hair, she leans her head back to me and looks at me with her beautiful bright green eyes and then notices my 'problem'.

Her eyes travel slowly back up to mine and then she says, "Make me forget everything. Make me forget who I am." Clary says this with desire, turning her eyes a dark green.

I swiftly wrap my arm around her waist and pull her to me. Our bodies crash together with a loud smack and my hands greedily slide over her slick body. Her hands tangle in my hair as our kisses become passionate and deep. My lips then move down her neck and onto the rest of her as she sighs my name. "Jace.." Her breath comes out as a seductive whisper, caressing my name. "Make me forget." and that is exactly what I did for the next hour until the water turned cold.


	27. Chapter 27

**This is kind of a filler chapter, but a necessary one so bare with me. The next chapter will be much more exciting and action packed as I try to round out the story.**

 **-Clary**

I slowly open my eyes to the bright light that is peaking through a small hole in the closed curtains. I have no idea what time it is. I turn my head to the side a little to escape the offending light and roll into Jace. I am using one of his arms as a pillow and his other arm is casually draped over my hip. I twist a little in his arms to face him and some cold air makes it's way under our warm covers. As we are both naked, the chilly air sends shivers down both of our bodies. Jace unconsciously pulls me tighter into him and I snuggle my head into his muscular chest as he gives a small rumble of satisfaction. "I like this naked snuggling." Jace says while his voice is still rough from sleep. "We should do this everyday."

A smile tugs at the edges of my mouth. "I like it too." I say back to him. "Although, I do feel as though something has come in between us." My words have the desired reaction, and he stiffens and pulls away to look at my face with worry in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Jace asks me quietly. I pull my hand up from in between our bodies and point downward to his 'morning wood' and smile playfully back up at him. When he sees my gesture and my smile, his body relaxes instantly and then he laughs for just a moment. "Well what do you expect?" He asks me while pulling me even closer to him; every part of our bodies touching. "I have the most stunning woman in my arms and she happens to be completely naked and completely mine." His mouth crashes against mine and he takes my breath away. After a minute of passionate kissing, he pulls back and says, "I love you, Clary. I never thought I could, or even would, love someone like I love you. You woke up my dead heart."

"And you," I tell him, "showed me that I can love with every fiber of my being, without holding back, and never be afraid of being hurt. I love you more than I could have every imagined loving anyone." I break my eye contact with him and look down at his chest as I recall yesterday. "And I don't think I could have survived the past few days, especially yesterday, if you hadn't showed me the kind of love to live for." I take a deep breath before I continue. "My love for you and your love for me is what kept me fighting. It is what has kept me sane. Knowing that I had you to live for. Knowing that if I held out just a little bit longer, I would get to see you and my heart would be whole again." I look back up into his eyes and they are shinning down at me. "And you continue to keep me going, even now. You kept my nightmares at bay just by being here with me. I love you, Jace."

His arms tighten around my body and, impossibly, pulls me even closer. "I love you, Clary. I will never leave your side as long as you want me here."

We lay there for a moment just holding each other while I ready myself for the next part of our journey together. "It's a good thing you feel that way," I say into his chest, "because I think it is time for us to go kill our father."

His body stiffens and he pulls back instantly and eyes me like I am crazy. "You," Jace's head nods toward me while his voice is stern, "are not going anywhere near Valentine. He wants you dead and I will not allow him anywhere near you to give him that chance."

"Well it's too bad that you feel that way." I say letting some fake disappointment leak into my voice. "I guess I will just have to go after him by myself." His jaw clenches and I can tell he is trying to maintain his cool. "You can't stop me, Jace. We are the ones who knows what he is going to do and we are the only ones in the unique position to be able to stop him."

His face turns an impressive red as I am speaking before he sighs in defeat and the color leaves his face after a minute of deep breathing. "Why," Jace says as he looks down at me, "oh why, did I have to fall in love with someone who is more stubborn than me? I feel like it is a punishment for some unspeakably horrible act I committed in a previous life."

I can't help but laugh at his theory. "It must have been a terribly horrible act indeed." I say between laughs.

"Why are you laughing, Clary?" Jace asks, clearly put out by my hysterics. "I find this realization to be a tragic one that will clearly lead to my untimely demise by way of a heart attack." This brings on another round of laughing from me. He lets me go and rolls over and puts his back to me.

"Hey!" I say to him lacing my voice with worry while trying, almost successfully, to stifle my laughter. "Don't be mad." I scoot up to press myself against his back. When I do, I am rewarded by him stiffening before leaning slightly into me.

"You laughed at me." Jace says, his voice muffled by the pillow he is burying his face into.

"Because, Jace, you can be so dramatic sometimes." I reach up and slide my hand across his stomach. "Don't be mad at me."

He turns his head to face me and raises one of his eyebrows. "Who? Me? Dramatic?" Jace says. I can see the facade he was holding slip into a playful smile. I thought he was mad at me and he made me worry. For this, he must pay. I grab the pillow behind me, and bring it down on his stupid face and then roll away from him, ninja style, and land on my feet on the other side of the bed. I look over at him to see that he has also jumped out of bed and has a grin the size of Texas on his face. "Okay, Clary." He says lowly to me. "I see how this is going to play out."

"And how is that, Jace?"

"I am going to have to tackle you and make you pay for your most egregious action of hitting me with this," he holds up a pillow, "weapon of mass destruction."

A challenging smile creeps across my face. "If you can catch me." I say almost seductively at him. His eyes light up with a hungry light and he jumps at me from across the bed. I spin to the side, giggling wildly, and with lightning speed, jump onto the bed. I look down at him as he stands up from where he landed on the floor. "Nice move, Clarissa." he says appreciatively and I give a small bow. As I am straightening back out, his arms reach out to try to grab my feet and pull them out from under me on the bed, but I jump at the last second and his hands graze the bottoms of my feet. I launch myself backwards and land on the floor where he was standing to begin with. He infuriatingly raises one eyebrow at me and then jumps onto the bed again, crawling at a freakishly fast pace, towards me and I dart backwards and run around the bed to the corner bed post on the opposite side that reaches almost up to the ceiling, and grab hold of it tightly, as if it can hide me. His expression is that of someone who was starving and then that person was offered the most delicious meal on the planet, only to have it taken away as he brought the fork up to his mouth. "What's the matter, Jace?" I say playfully. "Are you not used to being the one who doesn't get what he wants?"

His mouth pulls up at the side and he dips his head to look at me through hooded eyes. "Oh, I could have caught you the first time I lunged at you. I let you get away because I like the way your 'jiggly bits' bounce when you run."

My mouth falls open in shock when he says this and he lets out a huge belly laugh. I take advantage of his distraction and pull myself up onto the bed, using the bed poster, and launch myself at his still laughing self from high ground, and knock his naked body to the floor. He wraps his arms around me and rolls us over and pins me to the ground with the weight of his body as his laughing slows and his grin widens. "Now, it is time to pay for you horrific betrayal." He says to me. He reaches down and grabs the spot above my knee and gives it a few quick squeezes. I thrash against him while laughing as he continues to tickle me relentlessly. He stops after about thirty seconds and waits for me to stop laughing and meet his gaze; although I can't stop smiling. His eyes narrow at me and he hums speculatively. "Do you think your punishment has fulfilled the level of the crime you have committed, or should it continue?" He reaches back down to my knee and gives it a few more squeezes.

"No!" I get out between giggles, "No more! The punishment..." uncontrollable laughter "...has been fulfilled!"

He lets go of my knee again and looks back up at me with the same quizzical look. "I am not so sure." he says while he taps one finger on his chin. "I think the other knee has become jealous of the special attention that has been given to this knee." He nods down at the knee in question.

"Oh no, no, Jace!" I say with warning laced in my voice. He reaches down and gives the other knee a round of squeezes while I laugh uncontrollably. In fact, I am laughing so much and so loud, we don't hear the knocking at the door and then Izzy saying that she is coming in.

The door swings open and both of our heads turn up to meet Izzy's shocked face at our nakedness before she slaps her hand over her eyes. " _MY EYES_!" She yells loudly. "MY EYES! THEY'RE _BURNING_!"

Jace laughs and leans back cooly on his knees to pull the blanket off of the bed in no particular hurry, and covers us up. I can feel the blood in my face which has probably turned the shade of my hair. "It's okay Izzy. You can look now." Jace says with a smile still plastered on his face.

Izzy slides two of her fingers apart to peak through. Satisfied that we are now covered, she lets her hand fall from her eyes. "Why in the hell are you two on the floor...naked?" she ask bewildered.

"Well, you see Izzy, Clary was a bad, bad girl..." Izzy shakes her head vigorously and holds up her hands, flailing them wildly to get him to stop. "Never mind, Jace! I take it back. I _do not_ want to know!" she shouts quickly at him. This is when I bring my hands up to cover my face, hoping that I can just melt into the floor and disappear from this most embarrassing moment which Jace apparently finds hilarious by way of the hysterical laughing coming from him.

"Just get dressed, you two, and come downstairs." Izzy says as she turns to leave. "The Council is going to make it's decision soon and I think you should both be there." This seems to sober up Jace and he straightens out his face. "Okay, Iz. We will be down soon." Jace says in a serious voice. Izzy gets to the door and pauses. "You and Clary should really look into locking the door next time. I don't think I will be able to burn that image away for a long, long time." and she shuts the door behind her. Jace and I turn our faces back to each other and then burst out laughing.

We peel ourselves away from each other and put our clothes on. I have no choice but to put the spandex type training pants back on the Valentine gave me, sans panties (who wants to wear dirty underwear?), and the sports bra back on. Thankfully, Jace throws me one of his shirts. I slip it on, breathing in his wonderful scent a couple of times (and no, it's not creepy), and tie it in a knot at the back to make it more to my size. The neck of the shirt shows a bit of my upper chest because it is so big, but the rest of the ill fit is seemingly fixed by tying it up in the back. Jace slides a light gray, tight fitted t-shirt on and some dark wash jeans that accentuate his round buttocks perfectly. I bite my lip looking at his backside as he leads me back down through the house and into the living area.

I tear my eyes away from the view he is giving me and look up to see Simon sitting next to Izzy on the couch. His arm is draped over her shoulder and he is whispering something into her ear as she pops a grape in her mouth and she laughs at whatever horrible joke Simon surely just told her. Jace looks back at me, obviously stunned by what he is seeing and I offer him a knowing smile and shrug my shoulders as to say, 'I knew it all along'.

Izzy notices us staring and jumps up. "It took you long enough." she mutters while disappearing around a corner and reappearing with two plates with sandwiches on them. "Here. I made sandwiches for both of you." Jace pulls the hand he was reaching out with to grab the plates and stutters, "Actually, Iz. I...I don't seem to be...all that hungry."

"Oh for crying out loud, Jace. They are just turkey sandwiches." Izzy says with annoyance. "I got the meat from the butchers and then just put it on the bread."

Jace reaches out again and grabs both plates and hands me one. "In that case, I am starving." he says and he takes a huge bite. I try to hide a smile at Izzy's annoyance at Jace making fun of her cooking skills and see that Simon is trying to hide his smile as well.

"Just hurry up and eat. The Council said they will have a decision at dusk, which happens to be in an hour."

I look up at Jace in surprise and then back at Izzy. "What time is it?" I ask her. She turns her head to a clock I hadn't noticed on the wall and says, "It's six-fifteen."

"Dammit!" I shout. "We slept all day! Why did you let us do that?"

"Because we were sleeping too." Simon says. "Neither one of us got much sleep last night. We only got up an hour ago."

Jace raises his one stupid eyebrow and asks, "Where did you sleep, Simon? On the couch?" Simon looks away from Jace nervously and his eyes fall on Izzy.

"No, he slept in my room." she says quietly.

"Well, well, Lewis." Jace says as he moves toward Simon. "I didn't think you had it in ya'." Jace raises his hand like he wants to give Simon a high five. Just as I am about to see the impossible; Jace and Simon becoming almost friends, Izzy shoots Simon a death glare and he clears his throat and pulls his hand back to his side.

"Izzy." Jace whines. "You ruined a beautiful moment."

She rolls her eyes and tells us to hurry and finish our sandwiches. We scarf them down with most of the conversation being between Simon and me and then leave for the Hall. Neither one of them asks me about how we escaped. I know Simon can see that there is a story behind it but can also see that I don't want to talk about it. Anyway, I really hope the Council makes the right decision. When I yelled at them and showed them the Binding rune, I was really tired and angry. I had been listening to the people next to us in the Hall talk about how it wouldn't be that bad to rid the world of all downworlders and I just lost it. I climbed the dais and yelled at them. I probably could have been more convincing, but I was just too tired and emotionally drained to care.

When Jace and I finish, we strap on the two weapons belts that Izzy gives us, along with a few weapons, and we move to the front door while Jace holds my hand, and open it to find my mother sitting on the steps of the house. She turns around to see me and jumps up while self consciously smoothing down her gear. Jace turns to face me and asks me with his eyes 'do you want to talk to her?' and I nod. He bends down and gives me a peck on the lips and he reluctantly steps away and onto the sidewalk, dragging Isabelle and Simon along. Simon offers my mom a shy, "Hey Jocelyn." as he passed by. I know this is going to be an awkward conversation, but it has to be done sooner or later. I look up to Jace who is waiting for me on the sidewalk at the end of the walkway to the house and he gives me an encouraging smile. I sit down on the steps and my mother joins me.

"So," mom says and she nods toward Jace, "you and Jace?"

"Yeah. Me and Jace." I say with an edge to my voice, daring her to say something about it.

"I guess I will have to get to know him." mom says to me. "The only thing I know about him is that Valentine raised him and that he agreed to go with him right after he killed the Inquisitor."

Of course she would only pay attention to the negative things. "He only went with Valentine to get to me and even though he was raised by Valentine, he is nothing like him." I say defensively. "Jace is the best kind of person there is. He is the only thing that has kept me going all of this time. Simon helped too, but our relationship was weird and a little uncomfortable at the time."

Mom looks over to Jace who is smiling at something Isabelle said. "I don't know if I like it, Clary."

This makes me angry that she has the nerve to say this after she left me alone. "You don't have to like it." I snap at her. "I love him and he loves me and nothing is going to change that."

My mother smiles a little and gives a small chuckle. "I am sure you think you love him, Clary, but things can change."

This makes my blood boil. I stand up swiftly and look down at my mom as I can feel the blood filling my face with anger. "You," I jab my finger at her, "don't get to tell me how I feel. You haven't been there to see what we have had to go through. There is nothing, not even you and Simon, that I am more sure about in this world than the fact that I love Jace and he loves me. And if time is going to change anything, it will be that our love for each other will grow deeper and stronger." My fists are clenched at my side and I spin to walk away when my mother grabs me by one of my wrists.

"Clary, Clary!" She says while holding my wrist, refusing to let me go. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." She is standing and has a worried look on her face. "I don't know him and I haven't seen you two together. You have to remember that I just woke up and all of this; you being here and running around with shadowhunters is all new to me. I mean, Simon is a _vampire_ for crying out loud."

My anger subsides a little bit. "Well you tend to miss alot when you drink a potion that renders you catatonic and leaves your daugther to fend for herself." I say my with voice laced with acid.

My mom's face drops and she shifts uncomfortably when I said that. "Yeah, about that." she says quietly. "I am not sure I am ever going to speak to Luke again after what he did." She sits back down on the steps and I join her.

My brows scrunch together in confusion and most of the anger I felt towards her melts away. "What is that supposed to mean, mom? What did he do?"

Her face contorts a little and pulls together. "He left you by yourself. He told you not to bother him with your problems. You were attacked by a demon and had to fend for yourself. We had discussed what would happen if Valentine found me and somehow you got left behind. Luke swore to me that he would look after you and protect you. That is the only reason I took that potion. I trusted Luke to take care of you and he destroyed that trust by shunning you."

Mom is looking off into the distance as she speaks not really seeing anything. Her voice is strained in a way that I have never heard before. It almost sounds like she is heartbroken. "Mom." I say to her. "It's okay. I can't be mad at Luke for what he did anymore. I was at first, but not so much anymore. I was attacked by a ravenor because I raced back to the apartment after you told me not to come back. Jace followed me there and took me to the Institute to recover from the ravenor's sting. I was unconscious for three days. When I woke up, I called Luke and he told me to not bother him." I look down at my feet at the memory of being so hurt by his words. "Yes, I was mad and hurt, but Pangborn and Blackwell were watching him for any sign of me. I know, because Jace, Simon, and I broke into his house and listened to a conversation between the three of them. Luke was injured and healing from taking over the New York pack. I suspect he did it for me and you." My mom looks up to me at this. "He had his pack follow me, even though I had no clue. Jace, Simon, and I would actually be dead right now if it weren't for his pack. They attacked the New York vampire clan in their own coven to save us after we broke it." My mom's eyebrows shoot up to her hairline when I say this.

"He attacked the New York vampire clan in their own home? What the hell were you doing there anyway?" Her voice goes up about three octaves when she says this.

"Yes, he did. I didn't know it was him when he did it, though. I was mad at him at first, but I understand why he did it now, looking back. We were both put in a really crappy situation and we both did the best with what we had."

It is quiet for a few moments as I watch my mom fiddle with a blade of grass she pulled from the yard. She looks deep in thought. "Maybe I was too hard on him." She says looking back up at me.

"What do you mean, mom?"

She sits straight up and looks at me cautiously. "Well I might have insinuated that I would never want to see him again after you said he abandoned you."

I groan and put my head in my hands. "Why would you do that, mom?" I say in a whiny voice. "The man is crazy in love with you." I bring my head up to face her. "He told me himself." I fully expected her to gasp in surprise or deny it. Instead, she remained cool and calm and just said, "I know. And I am crazy in love with him too." My eyes widen in shock and I lean a little away from her at her sudden admission.

"That settles it then, Mom. You have to go fix things with him."

She shakes her head vigorously. "No. That can wait." She twists her hands in front of her nervously before she continues in a much more serious tone. "That is not what I came here to talk about." She looks over at me. "I came here to apologise to you. For lying to you since you were born." I break our eye contact and then I start to twist my hands together nervously. "I guess I should have told you."

When my voice comes out, it is angry and short. "Yes, you should have."

"When I took you to New York, I wanted to erase every bit of my former life to try and protect you. I knew that Valentine wasn't dead and that he was going to look for me." I can feel her intense gaze locked on the side of my face because I don't want to look at her. I don't want to cry.

"The thing I am most mad about is you took my sight. You had Magnus erase my memories and replaced them with fake ones, Mom. You stole who I am from me; or at least who I should be. I am not sure I can ever forgive you for that." I look up to her to see her reaction. She doesn't look mad, which is good. "I can understand that, Clary." she says. "Now, here comes the most difficult subject." I know what she is going to say, so I quickly look down at my feet wishing Jace was here next to me. "You said that when you escaped, that..." I can hear the raw emotions that are threatening to choke her as she pauses and swallows loudly. "...that you killed Jonathan."

I start to sweat nervously and my hands become clamy almost instantly. I am afraid that if I try to speak, I will start to cry so I just nod my head yes. She wraps her arm around me and pulls me into her. "I am so sorry, Clary. I am so sorry you had to do that. You shouldn't have had to." I can't help but let a few tears spill.

"He.." I manage to choke out before I suck in a ragged breath to continue. "He..wasn't normal."

Mom smooths my hair like when I was a child. "I know. That is why I ran when I found out I was pregnant with you. I didn't want him to do to you what he did with Jonathan. He stole my little boy from me and put a demon in his place." I lean into her embrace and let her hold me while we both let silent tears fall down our faces. We sit like that for a few minutes and then I pull away. I look up to the sidewalk and see Jace looking at me with worry. I know he wants to wrap me in his arms, but he stays back letting my mom take over for a minute.

"Listen mom," I tell her while looking at my boyfriend. "they are all waiting on me. We are going to go to the Accords Hall to hear the Clave's decision on working with downworlders."

She smiles knowingly at me. "I heard about what you did. You got up on the dais and showed them your Binding rune. It was all anyone was talking about."

I dip my head down in embarrassment. "Yeah, I might have gotten carried away."

"Well so did, I. I did the same thing when I first got back." I look up her in surprise while a smile spreads across my face. "Really?" I ask her. She just laughs at me and squeezes me against her side. "I guess we are more like each other than I was willing to admit." I say to her.

I stand up and pull Jace's shirt down. My mom stands with me and I motion for Jace to come to me. He pushes the small gate to the front walkway open and approaches us cautiously. I reach out and grab his hand, tangling our fingers together. "Mom," I say with pride, "this is my boyfriend, Jace...Way...um..well I guess we don't exactly know your last name yet, do we?"

Jace graciously extends his hand with a tentative smile on his lips. "It's nice to finally meet you, Ms. Fairchild." Mom reaches her hand out to him and gives him her best impression of a warm smile. "Herondale." She says to him. We both look at her with the same confused look on our faces. "Your last name is Herondale. Your father was Stephen Herondale and your mother was Celine Montclaire Herondale." Jace's face lights up and he is suddenly very interested in what my mom has to say.

"How do you know who my parents are?" He asks her quickly.

"I will tell you all about it on the way to the Accords Hall if you don't mind me tagging along." She asks and moves her eyes from Jace's to mine.

"Yeah, Mom. You can walk with us and tell us what you know so we can finally put all of the pieces of the puzzle together." We all move down the street and make our way to the Hall completely engrossed in the story my mom is telling.


	28. Chapter 28

**-Clary**

By the time we reached the Accords Hall, it was almost completely dark. Between the time it took for my mother and I to talk and to walk here, it had grown late. The Council was going to give an answer to the downworlders at nightfall and none of us wanted to miss it. We walked into the Hall through the double doors while the people nearest to us inside of the giant room stared at us. Some of the looks were hateful while some of them were appreciative and I even think I saw one that was teetering on the edge of respect. A man was just climbing the steps and had a slip of paper in his hands as he turned and face the shadowhunters that filled the enormous room. It was Consul Dieudonne. He looked down at the piece of paper as he began to talk. "In my hand I hold the results of the vote that was taken in regards to working with the downworlders or submitting to Valentine Morgenstern's terms." Consul Dieudonne says. "When the vote was asked for in the form of the traditional raised hands, it was then decided the best course of action was to put it to a paper vote." He looks down again and opens the piece of paper hesitantly. I see his eyes turn dark as a scowl unwillingly spreads across his face. He looks up from the paper and turns his glare on the crowd. "It seems that the majority has spoken and the decision to work along side the downworlders with the help of the Binding rune has been determined."

A huge roar spreads across the room. Half with triumph and half with ungracious acceptance. I turn to Simon and grin wildly before hugging him tightly. The moment we let go of each other, the Consul clears his throat the get the attention of the rumbling crowd. After a few short seconds of voices quieting, he begins to speak again. "But there is one condition that the vampires have requested before they agree to help us." A low murmur spreads across the room in confusion. Consul Dieudonne continues, "The representative that the vampires have chosen has requested that a certain vampire that is within our city limits be surrendered to him." At these words, my blood goes cold. I already know what is coming and I am frozen with worry. "He wants the return of the Daylighter that has found protection from a few of those in our ranks. He says that he has committed a crime and wants him returned to him so he can carry out punishment. If these terms are not met, then they will not fight along side of us."

I look to my side and see that Jace, Isabelle, mom, and I have moved to form a sort of human wall around Simon while everyone else in the room turns to us. I can vaguely hear the Consul's voice as he continues. "All of those in favor of the vampire's request say 'I'." Before I can react or even protest what is happening, I hear a loud and prophetic 'I' come from the crowd. "Those in favor of not agreeing to the vampire's request say 'Nay'." I can hear just a few people say nay and that is when I scream, " _NO!_ " before the Consul's mouth turns up at the corners. "The motion has passed and now he will be escorted out of the city and into the custody of his own kind."

We all move to more tightly surround Simon. Isabelle pulls off her whip from her wrist while my mom produced a short sword from her weapons belt. Jace pulls out a kindjal in one hand and a throwing knife in the other and I pull out two of my throwing knives. We all surround him and move our backs to Simon and form a circle of protection around him, daring anyone to approach. I can hear a familiar voice coming closer from somewhere behind me, but I don't dare turn around to see Luke approaching. I can hear his angry voice pushing through the crowd to us, surely coming to help us. That is when I feel Simon's cool touch on my shoulder. "Clary." he says in a calm voice. "It's okay. It's not worth it." I spin on him when he says this. "Yes, Simon," I say venomously, "you are worth it."

He locks his eyes with mine and holds my gaze. "No, it's not. You can't fight every shadowhunter in this room. I can't let any of you get hurt, or even worse, to try and protect me." His voice speaks with the finality that he reserves for rare occasions. Our friends and family that are surrounding him start to ease their stance as they listen to what Simon is saying. "No Simon." I say with my voice stern and unyielding. "I can't lose you after I just got you back. After everything started to fall in to place for both of us." I say and nod to Jace and Izzy whose backs are still to us while they still guard Simon. My heart starts to sink and I can feel my breath becoming shallow with oncoming sobs. Just when I start to lose myself to my despair, a rune flashes before my eyes. I instantly know it is ancient and one that has only been known to a few. Even in my mind, I can feel the strength radiating from it. "The Mark of Cain." I say quietly to myself, not knowing how I know what that is. I look up to Simon who looks confused and then realization races across his face. All of those Jewish classes that his mother made him take for most of his life allows him to understand what I mean.

Silent communication passes between us as we look at each other. "No, Simon. It was meant to be a curse. I won't do that to you."

"It's either that, or fight all of the shadowhunters in here, and possibly dying, and they drag me away to Raphael where he will then kill me. Or, you give me the Mark and I walk out of here of my own will and face Raphael with the protection that the Mark will give me."

Jace turns his head to the side slightly to say, "Whatever you two are fighting about, can you let the rest of us know what it is. We need to move out of here if we intend to keep Simon safe."

Simon turns around and reaches up and places his hands on Izzy and Jace's shoulders. "Guys, put your weapons away. I am going to go."

Isabelle turns around with a look of horror in her eyes. "No Simon. You can't." she says quietly.

"It's okay, Iz." Simon says softly. "Clary and I have a plan. Don't we?" He turns and looks at me over his shoulder. In that moment, a thousand memories run through my mind. Him holding my hand as we crossed the street when we were kids. The time I broke my arm and he refused to be left behind as I was put in the back of the ambulance. The look on his face when I would get one of his super geeky jokes that no one else would. I nod my head reluctantly as I think to myself that this was possibly the most selfish thing I would ever do. I just can't lose my best friend.

"Yeah. We have a plan." I say almost dejectedly. I pull him over to an alcove that is just behind us and pull out my brother's stele. I raise my hand to Simon's face and brush back his hair. "Sorry, Simon. It has to go on your face."

"Oh my gosh, my mom is going to kill me." His face is grave and I can't help but smile a little. "Are you sure, Simon. There is no going back after this." I say to him seriously so that he will understand what this means.

"Clary, it's okay. I will still have you in my life if no one else wants to be around me because I have a curse."

I smile a little again at this. "Yeah. I ain't afraid of no curse." I say in tribute to one of our favorite movies, Ghostbusters.

He laughs a little before his eyes turn hard. "Go ahead, Clary." I close my eyes and take a long deep breath before I look at him again. I raise my hand up and push his brown hair away from his forehead and bring the stele to his skin. He winces slightly as the burning from the stele sets in his skin, but he soon relaxes. I finish the Mark, after taking time to make sure it is perfectly done, and pull back to look. The dark black of the Mark shimmers slightly and then turns into a silvery color before melting into his skin. I hear a gasp come from a little ways behind me and to my left and I look up to see every shadowhunter looking at us except Jace and Izzy who still stand in a protective stance in front of us, almost completely closing us in the alcove.

I straighten up and shift nervously under the intense gaze of everyone while I slip the stele back into the holder on my weapons belt and snap it in to secure it. Simon clears his throat and moves nervously towards Isabelle. He whispers something in her ear and then gives her a kiss on her cheek. Simon steps out of the protective circle and gives Jace a clap on the shoulder before four guards come up and tell him they are going to escort him out of the city. He gives a little nod and leaves through the double doors of the Hall with his escorts hot on his heels. Izzy turns and looks at me and folds her arms across her chest.

"Tell me why I just let them take Simon." She says looking to me for an explanation. "All he said was to trust him and to trust you. What did you do?"

"I gave him the oldest Mark there is." I swallow past the lump in my throat before I continue. "I gave him the Mark of Cain." Izzy's eyebrows furrow together in confusion while Jace's, being assigned to read and be quizzed on the bible relentlessly as a child, face grows wide with understanding. "If the Mark I gave him works like I think it will, Simon will be absolutely fine. Raphael, on the other hand, not so much."

Izzy shifts her weight and still looks at me unsure. "Clary, if anything happens to him..." Her voice cuts off as her face contorts into pain. She quickly smooths out her features and turns and walks into the crowd. I see Alec and Magnus making their way toward us and Izzy meets them in the crowd. I look after in somewhat astonishment. She must really like Simon to have that kind of reaction to him being in danger. My heart immediately swells for her. She just might be worthy of my best friend.

I move to Jace and wrap my arms around his waist and snuggle my head into his chest while he brings his arms around me. He kisses the top of my head and tells me that everything will be fine with Simon. I pull away and he leans down to give me a kiss. I thought it was just going to be a peck, but his lips are so soft and sweet and we hold the kiss for a while. I hear someone clear their throat and turn to see my mom eyeing us suspiciously. I look down as blush creeps across my face. My mom has never seen me with a boyfriend before and it must be difficult for her to see me show affection to him and kiss him. If she only knew what we have already done numerous times behind closed doors...

I see Luke standing awkwardly a few feet behind my mom, shooting nervous glances at the back of her head. I step forward to my mom and say lowly, "I think you should talk to Luke...who happens to be standing right behind you fidgeting nervously." She tenses for a second before she pulls back and turns to face Luke. When his eyes land on her face, he looks down and shoves his hands in his pockets before mumbling something sounding like, "I'll just go." and he turns to walk away. My mom reaches out and grabs one of his arms. He stops dead in his tracks and spins around with pure hope in his eyes. Mom says something and nods her head to the doors and Luke smiles back at her and follows her as she leads him out of the Hall.

I spin back around to Jace with a big stupid grin on my face and throw my arms around his neck. "Not that I am complaining, but what is this for?" Jace asks as he snakes his arms around my lower back. "It is because my mom and Luke are in love and I am pretty sure that I will eventually have Luke as my step-father." I pull back and look into Jace's golden eyes as he smiles down at me. "Well I am glad that makes you happy, baby." He says to me and leans in to kiss me. Before we can connect our lips, someone walks up to us and says, "Excuse me Miss Morgenstern."

I look up to see some dark headed shadowhunter with a stele in his hand. "Could you show us," he gestures toward a werewolf beside him, "the Binding rune again? I don't want to get it wrong." I glance up at Jace and sigh before turning back to the man in front of me. "Yes." I tell him.

This continued for a while. I made my way through the crowd showing person after person the rune and watched them as they paired themselves with a downworlder; Jace never more than a few feet from me. After what seemed like hours, I step away from the crowd and lean against one of the far walls. Jace comes up along side me and looks on in concern. "What is it, Clary?" he asks me.

"We need to get out of here." I say to him. "We need to go get more weapons and then go after Valentine." As I say this, Jace's expression turns sour.

"I still don't like the thought of you going with me to stop him." Jace says with frustration. He knows there is no way I am not going and it drives him insane.

"That is beside the point. We need to hurry. It is 10:40. I am assuming he is going to release his demon army as a distraction while he calls on Raziel, so we don't have much time. He said the attack would begin at midnight and that leaves us roughly only an hour and a half."

Jace breaks eye contact with me and runs his hand through his hair while looking around the room. "Okay, Clary, but we do this _my_ way." he says, looking back at me. I nod my head in agreement. "There is a weapon's room here in the Hall. They always have it locked, but I don't think that will be a problem for you." His mouth twitches up a little as he gestures to me. "We can get what we need there and then I have a plan for what to do with Valentine. But first, follow me."

He grabs my hand and pulls me tightly behind him as we slink along the wall to a wooden door. We go through it and into a curved hall. He walks swiftly with me close behind. After a few turns, we go down a set of stairs and come up to a substantial looking door. "This is the one." Jace says. "Now work your magic." I close my eyes and draw the rune that allowed me to escape the apartment the first time. A rune that opens hidden and enchanted things. Things that can't be opened. I finish and pull back as a loud popping sound comes from the door. Jace leans forward and pulls the door open in surprise. "I don't think I will ever get used to what you can do, Clary." Jace says as his eyes roam over me appreciatively. Blush rushes across my face. "Now come on, lets get some weapons and stop our evil villainous father." I say playfully back.

After stocking up on numerous weapons and a few extra steles for me hidden in various places, we leave the room decked out to the tooth with swords and daggers. While we were loading up, Jace explained his plan to me. I will distract our father with my presence, keeping a safe distance, while Jace sneaks up behind him and catches him unprepared. I know the plan isn't much, but it is all we have at the moment. We walk a few feet to a clear space on the wall and I draw the Portal rune. We hold hands and look at each other with determination written all over both of our faces. "I love you, Jace." I say to him.

"I love you, too, Clary." Jace says and leans down to kiss me while his free hand cups my face. He pulls back and nods is head toward the portal. "Shall we?"

I smile up at him and reply. "We shall." and he pulls me into the portal with him while I clear my mind. He is going to take us to a spot just over the hill from Lake Lynn. The swirling pulls my hand from Jace almost instantly and I go tumbling. I feel myself hit the ground hard and roll into something hard. My head crashes against something hard and rough. I am able to figure out that it is a tree before my vision starts to blur. Just as I am falling unconscious, I see a blonde haired man, who is _not_ Jace come to stand over me.

* * *

I wake up slowly, trying to remember what is going on. I move to sit up but I suddenly feel something burning on the back of my neck. I try to pull one of my hands up to rub the spot and realize that my wrists are stuck together. That is when fear grips me. I suddenly remember what happened. My eyes fly open and I try to stand up only to find out that my legs are numb and limp. I look around me in a panic and find my father a few feet away smiling wickedly down at me. I open my mouth to shout at him and find that no noise comes from my throat.

"Don't struggle, Clarissa." he says while looking triumphantly down at me. "I put a Mute rune on you so you can't speak and I immobilized you. I wouldn't want you to sneak up behind me and stab me like you did Jonathan." By the end of his little speech, he is practically snarling at me. I open my mouth to say that he was trying to rape me, but of course, nothing comes out. At the sight of my frustration, he smiles down at me.

"You know," Valentine says thoughtfully, "I was going to give you to him. I had never seen him want anything more than he wanted you. He would have eventually killed me if I kept denying him. I had it all planned out perfectly." This knowledge fills me with hatred and disgust. He was never going to love me like a father should. He turns around and starts to walk to some sort of a table. I see the Mortal Sword and the Mortal Cup on it. "What is it about you, Clarissa, that inspires such want and devotion?" he spits out as he turns back around to face me. "First Jocelyn, then Jace, and then Jonathan. You stole them all away from me."

I can see the hatred that he has toward me in his eyes as he says this. "And for once, I am actually glad to see you here." I furrow my brows in confusion. "You see, I need the blood of a shadowhunter to complete the ritual. I was just going to cut my hand, but when I saw you, I knew that I was meant to take your blood. That God had sent me you to help me along."

My blood runs cold at what he says and I furiously try to wiggle away unsuccessfully. Valentine reaches back and picks up the Mortal Sword and starts to walk to me when I hear the most glorious voice ever. I turn my head up and see Jace hold up a sword to Valentine's chest. "You will not touch her, _father_." He says father like it is a dirty word.

"Everyday," Jace begins to say, " _everyday_ , I regret not killing you at Renwicks. But I won't make that mistake again."

"Wait, son." Valentine gets out. "I don't want to kill you. You are the only son I have left after what _she_ did." He jerks his head toward me without taking his eyes off of Jace. I can see Valentine gripping the Mortal Sword tightly and his muscles are tensed for action.

Jace scoffs at Valentine's words. "She had to kill him or he would have raped her, you sick bastard." Jace yells this at him as his face twists in rage. While Valentine is distracted, I start to feel around for my stele's that I took from the Hall. The one in my boot and the two in my weapons belt are gone. My last hope is the one that I tucked into the inside of my thigh near the apex of my legs, down my pants. It was a smaller stele, meant for a child which is why I took it. I say a silent quick prayer and slide my hands down my pants...and feel the hardness of the hidden stele lying down my thigh. My heart sings and hammers in my chest. I pull out the stele while Valentine's back is to me and he is talking to Jace.

"You never loved me." Jace spits out at Valentine. "You only kept me until I outlived my usefullness and you decided that I wasn't good enough for you."

"That's not true, Jace." Valentine says calmly yet firmly. "I loved you for your pure heart. If you believe nothing else, believe that." I can barely see Jace because my father is blocking my view. I hurriedly slash through the rune holding my writsts together and then reach around to my back where the Immobilization rune is and quickly slash through that one. I hop to my feet as quietly as I ever have and slash through the rune on the back of my neck, allowing me to speak. I quickly scan the area to try and find the weapons Valentine took from me and I find them just beside Valentine's feet.

'Dammit' I say to myself. I quickly draw a Silence rune on my arm and start to sneak up behind him. "Liar!" Jace shouts at Valentine.

"You know I am not lying. I have always loved you." If I believed that Valentine was capable of love, I would have believed what he said because of the way he just said he loved Jace. "And now," Valentine continues, "you have turned your back against me over and over again for this _stupid girl_!" Before I can register what is happening, Valentine spins gracefully away from Jace and brings the Mortal Sword down and into my stomach. I am utterly shocked. I don't feel anything but shock. I hear Jace scream a gut wrenching scream as I look down to see the sword protruding from my stomach. I look up at Valentine who is looking at me with disgust on his face. He sneers at me and pulls the sword back from my body and that is when the pain hits. I fall to my knees as I feel warm blood filling my mouth. I put my hands on my wound as Jace appears in front of me and takes me in his arms. I look up at him and his eyes are filled with such intense pain and I can see tears falling without reserve down his face.

"No, Clary. No, no, no." He whispers brokenly. "Don't leave me." He pulls out a stele and draws and iratze on my skin that quickly fades away. No iratze will save me now. I can feel tears falling down my cheeks and I open my mouth to tell him that I love him, but the only thing that comes out is a blood filled cough. Jace's face contorts in pure anguish as he brings one of his hands up to my face and cups my cheek. His forehead falls against mine as he whispers, "Clary, please, please, please don't leave me. I can't live without you. I love you." I can feel his tears fall against my face. I suddenly feel very, very tired so I close my eyes. 'Just for a minute' I say to myself. I can faintly hear Jace's tortured wail as a deep, deep darkness spreads over me...and then nothing.


	29. Chapter 29

**Since this is the last chapter, I just wanted to say a special thanks to those who have followed and favorited my story. It truly means the world to me. Every time I would get a little chime on my phone and see that it was from Fanfiction, it would make my day. Seriously. And a super special thanks to those who took the time to review it. Your reviews are what kept me going when I just wanted to give up on writing this story when I would get a block. I truly love all of ya'll!**

* * *

 **-Jace**

I land on my feet when the portal dumps me out over the hill of the lake shore. Right when Clary and I stepped into the portal, her hand was pulled from mine. I spin around quickly to look for her, but I see nothing. No flash of red hair or pale skin. "Shit!" I loudly whisper in frustration. I have to get to Valentine because if I know my Clary, that is where she would go if we were separated. I pull out my sword and slink up to the top of the hill and scan the lake shore while keeping low to the ground. I can barely see anything so I quickly draw a Nightvision rune on my arm. I feel it take affect and then scan the shore again.

"There!" I whisper. The view is partially obscured by a large tree, but I can make out Valentine standing by some sort of a table about 150 yards away. Just as I am about to push myself up, I see him turn around and look down at something on the ground. I look to the direction he is gazing and see something moving. 'Oh no. No, no, no, no.' I say to myself. Clary is immobile and lying on the ground.

I stand up and take off running. I still have to take a roundabout way there for him not to see me coming. As I am running, I can't help but curse myself for my stupidity. I should have held onto her tighter. Hell, I should have never let her come with me. And now, the man who wants her dead has her completely helpless. The only good thing I can think about right now is that, knowing Valentine, he will want to gloat to her. Make her watch as he completes his dream. 'There is still time' I chant in my head.

I make it to a few trees on the opposite side of Valentine from where I just was and I am close now. I can hear Valentine talking, but not Clary. I peak around the tree and see that his back is to me. I take the opportunity to sneak up behind him. As I am getting closer, I can hear his voice is angry and on the verge of screaming. I don't have anytime to waist because he is losing his patience with whatever is stalling him from doing his 'work'.

As I am closing the last few dozen feet, I catch the end of what he is saying. "I was just going to cut my hand, but when I saw you, I knew that I was meant to take your blood. That God had sent me you to help me along." Valentine sneers and I watch in horror as he raises the Mortal Sword at Clary who is practically unmoving on the ground. My mind quickly registers that she is alive and mostly unhurt except for the gash on her forehead. I raise my sword and close the last few feet to Valentine. "You will not touch her, _father_." I spit out at him.

He spins around and has a surprised look on his face as he sees the sword at his chest. "Everyday," I start to say, " _Everyday_ , I regret not killing you at Renwicks. But I won't make that mistake again."

"Wait, son." Valentine gets out. I cringe internally at the word son. "I don't want to kill you. You are the only son I have left after what _she_ did." He motions his to Clary behind him with a jerk of his head without taking eyes off of me. I can see the predatory glint in them and his body is tense. From the corner of my vision, I can see Clary moving around in quiet and quick movements. I don't dare look at her. I don't want to give her away and I can't afford not to look at my opponent. I just wish I could see what she is doing.

"She had to kill him or he would have raped her, you sick bastard." Did he forget about that part? Any father who would be okay with letting one child rape another surely deserves to die. "You never loved me." I say venomously to Valentine. "You only kept me until I outlived my usefulness and you decided that I wasn't good enough for you." He doesn't know the meaning of love, let alone how it feels.

"That's not true, Jace." He says calmly and with false conviction. "I loved you for your pure heart. If you believe nothing else, believe that." Something tugs at my heart at the way he says the last part. For about a millisecond, I allow my heart to break before I remember who he is. What a manipulator he is. "Liar!" I shout at him. I can see Clary moving around behind Valentine. She is coming closer and I think she is going to try and grab a weapon from the pile at his feet. I need to lure him a little way towards me to give Clary some breathing room while I continue to distract him.

"You know I am not lying. I have always loved you." There he goes, spouting that bullshit again. "And now," Valentine continues, "you have turned your back against me over and over again for this stupid _girl_!" He leans his body back out of the reach of my sword as he spins and brings the sword down towards my Clary. Before I can register what is happening, ice cold water runs through my veins and I watch as he stabs Clary in the stomach.

I am frozen. Frozen with shock and fear. I don't even remember deciding to wail from the pit of my stomach, but that is what sets me free from inside my head. Clary looks down at her stomach and brings her hands up to the wound and then looks back up to me and we lock eyes. I force myself into motion and catch her as she falls. I pull her into my arms as I rest most of her body in my lap. I pull her forehead to mine while my heart feels like it is being squeezed with a hand that someone shoved inside of my chest.

"No, Clary. No, no, no." I whisper to her. "Don't leave me." She can't leave me. Not when I just got her. I can only imagine blackness when I think of a future without her. I pull out my stele, knowing with the wound she has, it will be useless. I draw an iratze on her, pushing all of my love for her into it, and I watch as is sinks into her skin and rapidly fades away; a sign that it isn't going work.

I look down at her face and see that water is falling from me. I hadn't even realized I was crying. She opens her mouth like she is going to say something, but she just chokes on her own blood. I can feel my heart being squeezed impossibly harder and am now finding it hard to breath past the sensation. I bring my hand to her face and rest my forehead against hers. "Clary, please, please, please don't leave me. I can't live without you. I love you." Her eyes that have been trained on mine slowly start to drift closed and her muscles begin to relax. I have seen enough of death to know what it looks like. My love is slipping away. A pain is rippling up from my stomach and into my chest. I feel it move past my throat and it comes out of my mouth as a guttural scream. I squeeze her limp body in my grip, holding her. I bury my face in her hair as it wets with my tears and take a deep breath, taking in the smell of her shampoo. My body is shuddering. Wracking with grief. I have just lost the only thing in my life worth living for. I look up from my love and see Valentine standing a little ways away, staring at me.

"I am so sorry, son." He says quietly. It almost seems like he is trying to look remorseful. I look back down at my beautiful Clary and kiss her lips one last time. I lay her down gently on the ground and brush the hair out of her face and slide my jacket off and place it over her wound. All the while, I am resolving myself to stop Valentine. To kill him. Because of him, I have lost everything to live for.

I raise my head up and meet Valentine's eyes with mine. I reach down beside me and pick up the sword that I had laid there. I rise and walk in a wide arc away from Clary to get an unobstructed path of attack. Valentine holds one of his hands up while the other grips the Mortal Sword, still dripping with his own daughter's blood. "Listen Jonathan," he purrs at me.

"Do _not_ call me Jonathan." I say through clenched teeth. I am waiting for the perfect moment to attack. While he is trying to put off an air of concern and worry, I can still see his muscles tensed, ready to explode into action.

"I did that for your own good." He says. This makes my blood boil and I can feel pure hatred unfurl itself in my belly. "Clarissa was making you weak. She was all you thought about. You had forgotten who you were."

"Don't you fucking say her name you son of a bitch." I spit out at him. "You have no clue who I am. She is what made me strong. She brought nothing but light and goodness into this world and everyone that came in contact with her could see it. Except for you." I take a step closer to him. "Everyone preferred her over you and that filled you with unbridled jealousy." I take another step closer. "You are a sad, sad man. You were so jealous because even though she was raised in the mundane world, she was more powerful than you would ever be."

Valentine's face has twisted into something rage filled. His eyes have narrowed into slits and his lips have thinned and pulled back to expose his gritted teeth. "Your wrong, Jace. She was just a common whore just like her mother; throwing herself at her own brother. You should have seen the way she tossed herself at him. Wearing tight clothes and..."

My vision clouds with red and I lunge at Valentine. I bring my sword down toward him while my other hand reaches in my belt and pulls out a throwing knife. While Valentine is deflecting my second attack, I bring my other hand up and twist toward him and bring the knife down towards his heart. Right at the last second, he turns slightly and dips and the knife goes into him right where his clavicle bone meets his shoulder. I pull back instantly, but he has already kicked my legs out from under me from when he dipped down to deflect my blow. 'I have to kill him for Clary' I say in my head over and over. Every time I say it, I get angrier and angrier and that is where I go wrong. The first rule of fighting is to keep your head in the fight. Never let your emotions take over. That is why when he kicks my legs out, he is able to stab me in my left shoulder. He pulls the sword back and looks down at me. I try to grab my sword, but the moment I try to lift it, copious amounts of pain radiate from the wound.

I roll to the side to try to get to my feet and Valentine brings down the sword again and slashes a huge cut in my right thigh. I can feel the muscles being severed and recoiling under my skin. I grunt in pain as I start to see spots in my vision. "I don't want to have to kill you, son. You are all I have left." Valentine says down at me.

"Fuck you!" I choke out at him.

"You will eventually see that I did this," he looks around himself, surveying his handiwork in the form of his dead daughter, "for you." When Valentine says this, I can hear the conviction of his belief in his voice. "She made you weak. To love is to destroy and to be loved is to be the one destroyed. How many times have I told you this?" He raises his arms out wide and gestures everywhere. "And where are you now because of her? And where is she?"

I try to get up again and grunt out in pain as I fall back against the dirt. "Stay there, Jace. I will heal you after you see Raziel, who is on my side, and _then_ tell me that I am wrong." His eyes are hard and unwavering as he turns around and approaches his make shift table. I lean my head back because the world is starting to swim. I close my eyes to try and get a better hold on myself. That is when I see Clary. She is standing in front of me with her hair blowing gently from wind. She smiles down at me and says, "Jace. You can't give up now. Look around you. A stele will set you free. I am counting on you. I love you."

And just like that, she vanishes. Although the rational part of my brain says that I was hallucinating, my heart says she was real. I could feel her presence inside of me.

I snap my eyes back open and see Valentine with his back to me chanting in some language I have never heard before. I see him raising his hands, each of them holding one of the Mortal Instruments. I look around me and see a circle with Valentine's rune that means his name. He showed it to me when I was nine and told me I had to make one for myself. But why would he have his rune scratched into the dirt in the middle of the circle? "That's it, Jace." Clary's voice says to me.

If I can just get to the circle and write my own rune in there, maybe that would mean something. I start to drag myself with my one good arm and one good leg to the circle. I want to make a noise from the pain, but I bite down on my lip. I reach the circle and reach down for my stele only to find it missing. I look around me frantically and see one in Clary's hand just a few feet away. My heart gives another agonizing squeeze as I roll and reach her hand. I pull it up and give it a quick kiss and take the small stele from her. I roll back and look up to see Valentine throw the Mortal Cup into the lake and I know I don't have much time. I rub my hand in the dirt and bring the stele to the circle and quickly draw the rune meaning my name just as I hear the Mortal Sword hit the water.

 **-Clary**

I open my eyes to darkness. I don't really see anything. I look down and see that the wound in my stomach is amazingly gone. I sit up quickly and look around. Still nothing. I pull myself to my feet and I see a light in the distance. I could have sworn it wasn't there just a second ago. I start to make my way to the light when I hear my angel's voice coming from somewhere below me. I spin in circles looking for him. I run to the side a little and then make a big arch in my efforts to find him. After a minute of searching, I see a dim light coming from under me. I look down and see my Jace lying on the ground, bleeding from his shoulder and his leg. I try to reach out to him, but it is like I am seeing him from the tallest tree and no matter how much I try, I can't climb down to him. I see him try to get up, but he can't. I can hear Valentine say something that I can't make out. Jace closes his eyes and I can tell that he is tired and in pain and wants to give up. I growl in frustration because no matter what I do, I can't reach him. I extend my arm and it hits a wall. I pound on it a few times before I fall back onto the floor.

I close my eyes and with everything that I have, I will my soul to leave my body. I can feel his presence after a moment and it feels like he is with me here. I smile a little at his presence.

"Jace." I say to him. "You can't give up now. Look around you. A stele with set you free. I am counting on you. I love you." I can feel myself snap back into my body like a rubber band. I look back down at my angel and watch him as he drags himself across the ground and then everything goes black. The light vanishes and I suddenly feel cold. I roll to my feet and push up to a standing position for the second time. I spin in circles, trying to find the light again to no avail. It suddenly gets very cold like someone sucked all of the warmth out of the air. I start to shiver and wrap my arms around myself. I don't know what I am supposed to do.

"Clary." I hear Jace say from somewhere behind me. "Jace?!" I shout out. I can see the light again, except this one is brighter and much closer. "Clary." Jace's voice says from the light. I don't hesitate for a second and I run full on towards the light. "Jace!" I shout as I reach the light. It engulfs me and I am suddenly falling fast.

I open my eyes and see beautiful stars. Millions of stars. I turn my head to the left and see a familiar mop of golden hair. "Jace." I breath out. I sit up and his jacket that was somehow on me slides off. I crawl the short distance to him and grab him by the face. He his awfully pale and his lips are an alarming shade of blue. "Jace!" I shout out as I shake his head. His eyes flutter open and he smiles lazily up at me. "Clary." he whispers. I look down at him and see that he is still injured. I grab the stele out of his hand and rip his shirt open. I put the stele to his skin and I can feel the angel's blood flowing through me. I put all of myself into the stele. All of my love for him. All of my desire for him to live. Everything that I have, I pour into the iratze that I have drawn on his chest. It glows and amazing gold before it sinks into his skin and I watch as the color floods back into him. His beautiful lips flush pink and his skin warms to it's beautiful tanned color and even his hair looks more golden that usual.

That is when I feel all of my energy drain out of me and I slump to the ground beside him. I sit there for a minute staring at the stars again until I hear Jace's voice. I turn my head to the side and see that he is looking at me so I smile at him. "Clary?!" He shouts at me. He rolls over to me and sits up on his knees and leans back on his feet next to me.

I probably should have said something prophetic but all I manage to say is, "Hey Jace."

His face lights up like that was the most amazing thing anyone, anywhere could have said to him and a tear escapes his eye. "Clary. You're here." He whispers to me.

I reach my hand up, even though it feels like it weighs a ton, and brush the tear from his cheek. "I heard you calling for me, Jace. You were my light and I ran to you."

He smiles wildly and brings his lips down to mine. I can feel all of his love for me in this one kiss and it almost breaks my heart. It feels like my heart just doubled in size with love.

"I'm tired." I say to him when he pulls back.

"It's okay, my love. I'm here. Just rest. You have been through a lot." I turn my face into his hand on my face and kiss it before I close my eyes and let the tiredness sweep over me.

* * *

The next few days are a whirlwind. Shadowhunters arrived at the lake shortly after I healed Jace and took us back to the hospital. I vaguely remember Jace shouting a long stream of profanities as they pulled him away from me to check him for any injuries. When I opened my eyes again, he was there holding my hand. He smiled down at me and kissed my hand that was in his and then he brought his lips to mine. When he pulled away, my mom and Luke came swooping in and wrapping me in a hug while my mother's tears soaked the shoulder of my shirt. All the while, Jace never letting go of my hand. By the time the second day rolled around, I had to kick him out when I had lunch to take a shower. He was starting to smell after refusing to leave my side for almost three days. He must have taken the worlds fastest shower, because 25 minutes later, he was holding my hand again with his hair still wet.

On the third day, they finally let me go. Izzy had shown up and joined my mother, Luke, and Jace to escort me outside to see Simon waiting with a handful of freshly pulled wildflowers. Why they wouldn't let downworlders in the hospital was beyond me. I ran to him and he grabbed me up in his arms and spun me around while we giggled like little school girls. They all walked me to Luke's sister's house, where my mom and Luke were staying (and now unfortunately me against my will), and said their goodbyes. My mom and Luke walked inside the house because Jace said he wanted to talk to me about something. Mom very reluctantly agreed and I was standing here on the steps while my beautiful boyfriend grasps both of my hands in his.

"I have something for you, Clary." I scrunch my eyebrows together and look at him with confusion. What could he possibly have for me? He hasn't left my side to even get anything. "I wanted to wait till we were alone and now that your mom is back, I don't think that will be happening much." I let out a small breathy humorless laugh. "I don't know why this means so much to you after everything he did, but for some reason, it does." He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a stele with a pattern of stars on it.

"Jonathan's stele!" I whisper shout. I reach out and take it from him, grasping it tightly.

"I grabbed it before we left the lake shore that night. I saw how you treasured it after...he died."

"I don't know why it means so much to me either." I admit to him. "All I know is he was my brother. I never had a brother. My real brother was stolen from me before he was even born. But I still felt like deep down, there was still some small part of the brother I should have had buried in there somewhere." I look back down at the stele and continue talking. "When I see this, I see that part of my brother. The untainted part. It is the only thing I have of his; that connects me to him and proves that he was real." I turn my head back up and look into his golden eyes. "I don't expect anyone to understand it. Hell, I don't even fully understand it." I take a deep breath. "But I..."

Jace stops me there. "No. I get it. I don't know why I still wear this," he gestures to the Morgenstern ring, "and why it means so much to me. I am not even a Morgenstern. It just does. I don't think everything has to make sense. So, you hold on to his stele and I will hold onto this."

I smile up at him while he bends down to kiss me. "I love you Jace. Always have and always will." He brushes his hand across my face before leaning into me again. "And I love you, Clary." and he kisses me once again.

 **-Lilith**

My beautiful baby boy lies in a coffin filled with enchanted liquid to preserve his body. I brought him back to Edom while I prepare for my revenge. I will lay waste to the filthy, worthless girl who killed him. I will give her to my son and he will do with her what he pleases. I know just the enchantment and rune to do it with. Soon enough, she will be under his control and he will lay waste to this world.

 **The End**

* * *

 **Thank all of ya'll (yes, I am from the south) for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed it. I will be writing two more stories soon. The ideas have been floating around in my head for weeks, but I really wanted to finish this one before I started any others. One will be a Clace story (rated T) and the other will be a Clonathan story (rated M). I promise the Clonathan story will actually make you become a Clonathan fan if you aren't. Clary and Jonathan will grow up together in Valentine's twisted world with only each other to lean on. It will deal with dark themes and a sometimes dark Clary.**

 **The Clace story will be (hopefully) funny and more upbeat with a lighter theme, but Clary will still face some hardships on her road to finding out who she is and being with Jace in an alternate universe. So, in other words, _follow me_! It should be interesting to see how I balance these two stories that have been dominating my head for forever now.**

 **Thanks again, for reading. Ya'll are the best!**

 _ **-ReadingIsForNerds**_


	30. Chapter 30

**Hey guys! I just wanted to drop a line and tell you that I have a new story! It is called Jonathan's Secret and is rated M for a very big reason. When ya'll get a chance, you should go and check it out. I just posted it last week and I already have seven chapters up and am cranking out more everyday as usual. Ya'll know I pump out long chapters almost everyday so you won't have to wait forever to find out what happens. It is currently a Clonathan story but Jace is coming into the story real soon to shake things up as he always does.**

 **Anyway, I hope you check out my brand new story. It's a steamy one and I still have a lot planned for it. Thanks a bunches in advance!**


End file.
